Chapter Adventure Reading Challenges discussion

This months key words are:

Secret
Heaven
True
House
Come
Only
Know
Winter

Share with us!

Which key word did you pick? What book did you read and what did you think of it?

I'm picking "The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store" by James McBride :)

I’ll be reading The *Secret* Lives of Church Ladies but i started The *Heaven* and Earth Grocery Store today and it matches this challenge as well!

I just finished "I don't know what you know me from" by Judy Greer.
While she does seem like she would indeed make a pretty good friend, her writing was a bit all over the place, almost stream-of-consciousness sometimes. I enjoyed learning more about her as an actress, though, after seeing her in so many supporting roles over the years...

I am reading “The Last House on Needless Street”. Trying some horror, we’ll see how this goes, starting at 11:00 pm probably wasn’t best idea!

I finished it. It was a very good read, the less said about it, the better the experience for someone reading it... will leave it at that.

I think I'll be reading these two:

House of Sand and Fog
Only Ever Yours

I'm reading Starling House, and Winterset Hallow

Hi! I’ve never seen anything like this. I look forward to participating in this challenge. 💚💪

Just checked the words for January. That’s lucky, I’m currently reading “Indian Summer - The Secret History of the End of an Empire”.

Read "Starling House" by Alix E. Harrow - Like this one better than the last Alix E. Harrow book I read. It was a quick read.

Hoping to finish "House of Gold" by C.T. Rwizi by month end.

I checked my shelves and I found books for all Key Words challenge. I've been searched in my "Want to read" here in Goodreads.
This month, I chosed the words: Secret and Heaven
- Secret: The Secret of Ella and Micha OK
- Heaven: Just Like Heaven OK

I've read these two books. =)
I'm planning February *_*

I'm apparently an overachiever as I saw the challenge as reading as many as possible from the list. I also added the complication that they need to be in my personal library or from my to-read list. While my girls helped me canvass bookshelves and I have 44 for the year (all of January's) with another 34 on my to-read list.

ONLY the Beautiful - Susan Meisnner (a fabulous book to start the year with - fabulously horrible, I mean it is WWII)
Always the Last to KNOW - Kristan Higgins (good but felt like fluff after the first)

Next up:
TRUE Blue - Luanne Rice

I read Heaven and Earth Grocery Store for this month I didn’t love it as much as I expected.

Greenglass House has been on my TBR for...well, forever. I think I'm going to try and knock that one out for January's keyword!

• The Deepest of Secrets - Kelley Armstrong
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...

- Finished: January 6th.
- 4 stars on Goodreads.
This was a solid way to end the series. I did zero in on the villain before they were revealed, but that’s honestly fairly on par for me concerning both books and movies. I definitely want to read the offshoot series, but I think I remember reading somewhere that she’s not continuing it beyond the 2 books she’s already written (the 2nd one being released next month). If anyone reading this review knows for certain either way, please let me know, as it may sway whether I read them. I just don’t want to get into it, only to be left with an unfinished storyline.

Key Word:
Secret

Book:
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

Thoughts:
I unfortunately got into Harry Potter later than most, also starting off with the films… however, I throughly enjoyed the franchise enough to want to immerse myself more deeply into it by diving into where it all began. I really enjoyed the first book (Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone) and I enjoyed this one just as much, both receiving five stars. I’m looking forward to continuing through the entire novel series as well.

I was debating joining the challenge, but the first book I finished this year happened to be The *Secret* Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles, so it seemed like a sign.

I adored this book, started the year on a very high note!

in the middle of reading The Lake House by Kate Morton! :)

I'm reading The House Across The Lake by Riley Sager for this month's challenge.

Alex wrote: "I'm picking "The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store" by James McBride :)"

Oh! I read this one last fall and loved it so much!

I just finished my first book of the challenge! Code Name Blue Wren: The True Story of America's Most Dangerous Female Spy―and the Sister She Betrayed has been on my to-read list since it came out last year and I'm so glad I finally read it. I lived in the DC area during the last years of this story so there were so many things that I recognized which was cool. The story of Ana Belen Montes is a fascinating discussion of better understanding the things that can push people into betraying the people around them. I don't want to give too many things about the story away (although a read through the Wikipedia article would probably do that) but following the events in this woman's life that led her to espionage is an amazing psychological study. Well worth the read and so happy to start off with a great book!

I just finished the book The *House* in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. It started out really slow; I didn’t find it interesting until I was about 42% through. After that point, it picked up and was SO GOOD! I loved the character development that the protagonist goes through, and it’s just a heart-warming story!

Once I finish my current read I’m going to start this challenge and pick ‘Only’ and read The Only One Left by Riley Sager

key word: winter

winter weddings by Debbie Macomber (lots of options for this word but I knew this would be a quick read that I could move off the shelf)

secret: the Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty (it has been on my shelf for quite a while so I am excited to finally read this author)

I will be reading The Winter Crown by Elizabeth Chadwick. I can’t get enough of history and royalty.

I will be reading The Framed Women of Ardemore House by Brandy Schillace.

I just started “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store” by James McBride.

I read A Court of Frost and Starlight...close to winter so Im hoping to count it!

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty was fabulous! I actually just curled up and finished the last 1/3 of the book in one sitting. Have to go add a few more of her books to my to read list... next up though, Jodi Picoult's House Rules.

• The Book of Living Secrets - Madeleine Roux
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...

Blech. I had really high hopes for this book, based on the blurb, and the fact that my son really enjoyed her Asylum series. But the further I got into this, the more bored I got, to the point where I was constantly struggling to stay awake every time I picked it up. I ended up skim reading through the last 1/4 so I could just be done with it and move on to something else. I’m willing to concede that this was maybe just not for me, and other readers might really enjoy it. I really love the cover art, so I’m kinda sad to be giving it a 2 star rating, because that means I’m not keeping it on my shelves.

January Challenge Complete: The Secret People by John Wyndham

You win some, you lose some. While I can (somewhat,) agree with King on Jizzle,, this book is ruined by its casual racism and constant pontification. That part made the book really boring. But then, the very idea of flooding the Sahara desert to create a “New” sea, seemed like a bad idea from the start. And it was. And why they thought flooding an area with sea water would work is beyond me. Talk about hubris.

I did find it interesting the Margaret is more open to actually finding out something about their captors. Granted, she’s in a different situation, but I wonder if Mark would have handled it was as much grace.

This being Wyndham’s first novel, I suppose I can cut him some slack. It’s an interesting idea, though, I think, completely impossible. But the science in science fiction was often left behind in its early works.

I read The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon.

I read House Warming Homicide by Susan Harper. It was a quick enjoyable read on Kindle Unlimited.

Alex wrote: "I'm picking "The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store" by James McBride :)"

I really wanted to read that one but I'm still on the hold list at the library! :(

Leila wrote: "Once I finish my current read I’m going to start this challenge and pick ‘Only’ and read The Only One Left by Riley Sager"

I really loved all the twists in this one!

Tanya wrote: "I'll be reading "Starling House" by Alix E. Harrow & "House of Gold" by C.T. Rwizi."

I read Starling House as well.

For January I am reading The House Witch by Delemhach. I am really enjoying the fantasy story, I hope to be done with it by the end of January but unfortunately I was late getting started on it. I am an advisor for a middle grade Battle of the books group at my school and have been reading mostly middle grade books for that event.

I'm surprised at myself! I read a keyword book in the correct month. lol I read Five Winters by Kitty Johnson. Really sweet book set around London.

Kimberly wrote: "This months key words are:

Secret
Heaven
True
House
Come
Only
Know
Winter

Share with us!

Which key word did you pick? What book did you read and what did you think of it?" I picked Heaven

I read A Travel Guide To Heaven by Anthony Destefano - a fast but very interesting idea of heaven.

Keyword: Secret
I read The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. I did like it as it had a positive vibe to it about the Law of Attraction and how people can change their mind set to have more of a positive outcome; however, I did find it to be pretty repetitive each chapter.

Challenge complete!
Key word: house
I read The London House by Katherine Reay on Hoopla.

I tend to really like historical fiction, and this was an interesting read. It made me do a mini deep dive into women spies during WWII.

Finished House Rules by Jodi Picoult in a weekend (granted, I didn't do much else). Just finished Kingdom Come by Tim Green. It is nice to read a book that is true to an area rather than implying a two hour drive between NYC and the St. Lawrence River. Good mob story but not a great story. finishing the challenge with Just Like Heaven by Julia Quinn, the only book I didn't already have at home!

I finished “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store.” I thought it was a great read leaving me happy with the outcome. Some may have the opinion that it wasn’t that great. I say keep an open mind and embrace a different writing style.

I read The September House by Carissa Orlando Key Word: House. I got into it more and more as the book went on - didn't start out loving it though. I kept thinking - why would anyone stay in a haunted house?! But the last third threw me!

I chose House and read House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J Maas. I have been waiting to get closer to the release of the next Crescent City book to start the series. It was good! Some parts were hard to get through but overall I enjoyed it ☺️

I've read 'The Name of This Book is Secret' by Pseudonymous Bosch. It was an easy read but not mindblowing - rated it a three star for now!

I finished The Sugar House by Laura Lippman. This was #5 in the Tess Monaghan series and I liked it enough
that I may try to listen or read the rest of the series. 12 books in total. I live in MD, and it's enjoyable to read a story based in your state.

I read Dead of [Winter] by Darcy Coates

It has been a revelation but I’m finding I really enjoy locked room mysteries!

Challenge Complete.

I picked the word star. The book I read was Starboard Secrets by Hope Callaghan. It was a decent 3 star read. Here's the review.

Entertaining

The thing that made this book so good was definitely the characters. The story was decent and moved pretty good.

Overall, this isn't a bad book. I'll finish the series, but it'll probably just be a one and done read. I will definitely be checking out more of Hope Callaghan's books though.

I read The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise. It was cute!