Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

Jaghut Guardians

Captain: Jenna
Ann-Marie
Choko
Chris H
Emily
Mei
Mel
Virginie

Yay! Excited for the New Year!:)))

Captains: Jenna and Choko ;)

Hhahaa always Jenna and Choko! <3

I'd like to say it's because it's hard to arrange the big point earners, but that might be only part of the reason.

Not going to lie though, it was really difficult to arrange the teams with so many new people joining who are big readers, so I have no idea which way it's going to go this year.

Looking forward to this :)

Yay! So excited for the new year! :D

Back on Jenna's team.....I never stay gone for long ;)

Chris wrote: "Back on Jenna's team.....I never stay gone for long ;)"

Would be interesting to see how often you've been with the Jaghuts. I never keep track, but somehow I usually end up placing you and Choko here.

Teacher's Favorites...

Timelord Iain wrote: "Teacher's Favorites..."

As a former teacher, I can say with confidence that teachers never have favourites.

They never lie either ;)

Jenna wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Teacher's Favorites..."

As a former teacher, I can say with confidence that teachers never have favourites."

As a former teacher I respectfully disagree lol

Ann-Marie wrote: "Jenna wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Teacher's Favorites..."

As a former teacher, I can say with confidence that teachers never have favourites."

As a former teacher I respectfully disagree lol"

Hahaha did you miss my next comment?

Jenna wrote: "Ann-Marie wrote: "Jenna wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Teacher's Favorites..."

As a former teacher, I can say with confidence that teachers never have favourites."

As a former teacher I respectful..."

lol It's early and I am still working on my coffee! I also keep thinking how much bananas cost because of Iain's gif



And now I want a banana....

Ann-Marie wrote: "Jenna wrote: "Ann-Marie wrote: "Jenna wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Teacher's Favorites..."

As a former teacher, I can say with confidence that teachers never have favourites."

As a former teache..."

Ann-Marie wrote: "lol It's early and I am still working on my coffee! I also keep thinking how much bananas cost because of Iain's gif..."

Lol that's fair, it was a pretty great gif

now there's just going to be a whole gif/meme convo about bananas, isn't there ;D

typing words takes so much time... I'm busy catching up on 200 ratings/review, one day/chunk at a time, to avoid the CAPTCHA monster...

I also thought she just reposed my gif for some reason... guess I'm tired too...

That deserves another Lucille Bluth image:

le sigh she was such a wonderful actress <3

Jenna wrote: "Chris wrote: "Back on Jenna's team.....I never stay gone for long ;)"

Would be interesting to see how often you've been with the Jaghuts. I never keep track, but somehow I usually end up placing y..."

It seems like I'm with Jaghut every other year. I get it, we have to make it look good lol

*screech!*
*pulls up in Bookmobile with Chris and Em*
Mel: "Get out losers, we're here!"

*hop out, still clad in armour and wielding swords*

...So.
*doffs shades*


Good to back Guardians. :)

Mel wrote: "*screech!*
*pulls up in Bookmobile with Chris and Em*
Mel: "Get out losers, we're here!"....."

*currently thread hopping all over the group to find out what happens next in Mel's team reading adventure*

Hehe, gotta have a little fun and make the rounds, you know? Glad you're enjoying the ride! ^_^

How you've managed to capture my real-life personality in just a few lines is both incredible and a bit frightening that I'm that easy to read. The Mel version of Jenna gives off big "oldest sibling, worry about everything" vibes, which is completely me.

Not sure about how all the other "characters" feel :D

Haha, as our glorious leader I felt the eldest sibling vibes were appropriate. 😂 Good luck putting up with me again for another year!

Mel wrote: "Good luck putting up with me again for another year!"

Hahaha it will be a pleasure :)

Hahaha!!!:)))

*BURSTS DOOR OPEN*

HELLO FRIENDS!!!! I'm SO glad to be here. 🥰 I CAN'T WAIT FOR OUR UPCOMING READS WHATEVER THEY MAY BE!! 👀👀👀👀

YAASSSSS! Mei entering the chat like a f*ckin ICON! 😍

YASS, QUEEN, SLAY!
https://www.tiktok.com/@queen_astraea...

🎍Happy New Year Everyone!🎍

And let the games begin!!

I just finished my first book of 2024 as a buddy read with a friend and it was SO BAD. We thought we knew just what kind of bad we were signing up for when picking a ghostwritten WWII historical fiction book for a young actress wanting to pay tribute to her grandma, AND IT STILL EXCEEDED OUR EXPECTATIONS ON HOW BAD IT WOULD BE. 🤣

I'm off to a great start!!! 😂😂😂

👀 I look forward to brainstorming what book we might read as a team together!!

I am doing okay, just over 50% of my 4th book, so far I have 2 4 stars and 1 5 star, this current one was slow for a bit but I am liking it well enough.

Mei ☽︎ wrote: "I just finished my first book of 2024 as a buddy read with a friend and it was SO BAD. We thought we knew just what kind of bad we were signing up for when picking a ghostwritten WWII historical fi..."

Haha the transition from "It was so bad" to " off to a great start!!" made me laugh. 😂😀

I'm doing okay so far - I had Jan 1 off so I stayed home to read, but the rest of this week has been crazy busy. I'm taking a train tomorrow and hoping to get in some reading on the ride. 🙂

Jenna wrote: "Haha the transition from "It was so bad" to " off to a great start!!" made me laugh. 😂😀"

🤣 I'm glad it made you laugh! I have a friend who also gets morbidly curious about trainwrecks of stories, and we both laugh and cry while talking about them and sharing quotes. I don't mind reading ghostwritten stories, but there was a quote that sounded so odd that we wanted to pick it up and the writing only got more unhinged because the author felt the need to explain literally everything we needed to feel as a reader and the main character was kind of unintentionally crazy (like being visibly being upset and kind of blaming this young boy for not getting hurt while her sister did even though it was a random event). 🤣 The romance was a wild roller coaster so it was a hoot!!!

This weekend, I'm now looking to catch up on some buddy reads from '23 that I left Nirkatze hanging on!! 😂

Jaghuts have taken the lead as the first team to reach full participation!!

YAYY!! Great job team! 🥰

Haha, I was probably the one holding us back I'm afraid - finally finish the first book of the year!

I'm so glad it was a good book too, with Paladin's Faith Mostly by design, as I want to start strong. Kingfisher, may your paladins bestow their blessing upon the coming year, and bring excellent books into my hands!

Is that even a fair measurement? ;)

If it's anything like last year, Tome Raiders might never reach full participation... Niki never input any book data last year... she has to be reading, right?... she has a booktube...

Mei, you want to know what the ghostwriting trainwreck disaster reminds me of? Lindsay Ellis and her friends Nella and Elisa, in the wake of post-Twilight 50 Shades glut, decide to write a satire paranormal novel. With the aid of crowdsourcing and much alcohol.

"Booze Your Own Adventure"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UWCb...

So I went back to rewatch the first few episodes, and this was back in 2013, and so there were definitely potshots taken at Stephanie Meyer. (Lindsay later does apologise in a whole video on the outsized hate for Twilight and internalized misogyny for anything teenage girls enjoy, so there's that.) But I really love once they get into all the tropes, "Bitches love soul-bonding." Just non-stop riffing on ridiculous premises. :P

*clinks champagne glass*
Sounds like someone is sad they don't have their 100% achievement yet. *titters in vapid Gatsby glitter*
*slams down stein of ale* Don't know what to tell you man. I didn't create the team participation chart, but there it is.

You're right of course, Niki just doesn't use the sheet, and others may already be reading and just haven't input anything. It'd be nice if she came back this year, but I'm not counting on it. *shrug* But hey, you don't use the sheet, you don't get the points. Haha, we haven't even bothered marking the various "milestones" in years. But it's fun to celebrate nonetheless. :)

It's all good... Horns of Hammerad & Silver Swords have 7/8 active readers with data... kinda the same as being 7/7, really, if you think about it...

*toasts* You keep telling yourself that Iain. Whatever helps you sleep at night. (^_~*)

Timelord Iain wrote: "Is that even a fair measurement? ;)

If it's anything like last year, Tome Raiders might never reach full participation... Niki never input any book data last year... she has to be reading, right?...."

I took this into account when I made the teams, so if Niki decides to start inputting her points, Tome Raiders are very likely to take the win again this year.

HI TEAM 💖How has the last month been for you?

I am already behind on my buddy reads and broke my new year's resolution to not join too many buddy reads at once but it's kinda worth it for me, i think 🤣 I have been catching up on my ARCs/review-writing at least, and look forward to when I finally start catching up here too. 😂 I also finally logged my first couple actual fantasy reads, ahahahaha.

And I need to get back to Jade War. I keep getting distracted by other things and also got sick for a couple weeks so decided to read easy spicy things. 🤣

Seems like Silver Swords are closing the gap too points-wise 👀 but I def. believe in us!! 🥰

Eyyyyyy!

Mei, I totally feel you on the getting distracted.
This year has been channeling chaos, because I've been hopping from one book to the next, but not finishing a whole lot. Children of Ruin is a BR with a real-life friend who reads a normal amount at a regular human speed, so while excellent, I've been trying to pace myself and not race ahead too much. Then I also have been reading weekly WIP updates for Tavia Lark's latest fantasy romance, Prince of Agony, so that has added to this piecemeal effect of reading in fits and starts.

Highlights from January include Paladin's Grace, since it is such a joy to see others discover one of my favorite series and see what they think.

The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich was a cute little graphic novel for a book club, that was a quick and easy chaser in between more difficult reads.

It's also super exciting to get some book fairy books to bump up my queue! I'm looking forward to returning to Freya Marske's trilogy of magical murder mysteries with A Power Unbound!