Chapter Adventure Reading Challenges discussion

This months key words are:

Heir
Night
Bride
Down
Women
Hand
Teach
Guest⁠

Share with us! Which key word did you pick? What book did you read and what did you think of it?

I will be reading “After That Night” by Karin Slaughter.

I will be reading Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll.

The curious incident of the dog in the night-time

I think I am going to read "The Paid Bridesmaid" by Sariah Wilson.

I'll be reading Lone Women and Bright Young Women so I can participate in the group read discussion!

I chosed some books with the words: Night and bride
My TBR is:
Bride:
Kiss the Bride
The Rogue's Bride

Night:
A Night Like This

I have another books who I'm planning to read, but these are the first ones. =)

-
Update: (March, 01, 2024)
My plans change.
I didn't read Kiss the bride. But I have read the other two.
I started to read born at midnight, but I didn't finish =/
I'm trying to finish this book tomorrow.

From my own shelves:
honey & the hired hand - joan Johnston
night road - kristin Hannah
dangerous women - hope Adam's
a tailor made bride - Karen witemeyer
downfall - j a jance

off my to read list (library)
blood heir by aw Zhao
the guest book by Sarah blake

stuck on teach. really don't want to read a real book about teaching. can't wait to see what others find!

I'm planning to read:
Downriver: Into the Future of Water in the West
The Meaning of Night
Handle with Care: How Jesus Redeems the Power of Touch in Life and Ministry

I'm hoping to read Little Women this month!!

Picking a classic... trying to make sure I get a couple of those a year. Arabian Nights.

Completed... long, challenging read. Glad I read it though would probably opted for slower read as secondary book, reading to finish for month with its writing style was challenging to say the least.

I'm still waiting on the hold list for Bright Young Women at the library. Hopefully I'll get a copy soon. In the meantime I'll be reading Lone Women.

The word I chose is "Bride"

I read The Secret Bridesmaid by Katy Birchall

This wasn't what I was expecting and I really enjoyed it. More about friendship than romance. Very well done!

I chose the word Down.

I read Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden. This book is definitely not for everybody, as it tells the tragic tale of the battle of the Black Sea in Somalia. It was absolutely heartbreaking, and a time in American history that is often skipped over. My heart goes out to all the soldiers that fought in this battle and lost their lives, as well as to those who suffer the PTSD from such a terrible 2-day battle!!! I would highly recommend this book to those who are interested in reading about tough topics like modern warfare! This book isn’t for the faint of heart though, so I recommend it with caution.

Bride: I will be reading The Bridal Party by JG Murray. Looks exciting!

I've just finished Bride by Ali Hazelwood! My first book by Ali Hazelwood and I'm rating it a 4-star for now as I'm still figuring out my rating system for the year!

Chose the word Bride - read The Boleyn Bride by Brandy Purdy

A [Guest] in the House by Emily Carroll

⭐️⭐️ from me. This is the second graphic novel by her and it just isn’t my cup of tea. I find it confusing and there’s a lot of face-scrunching happening.

I read The Dragon's Bride by Katee Roberts.

I read The Midnight Library using the keyword night. There's not many books that leave me saying wow, but this was one. 5 stars.

I completed the challenge by reading both, "The Paid Bridesmaid" by Sariah Wilson and "The Women" by Kristin Hannah.
While the first was an okay read, not much to write home about, the latter absolutely blew it out of the water and became an instant 2024 favorite.

Key Word:
Bride

Book:
The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Thoughts:
Before you gasp, this is one of the only times I’ll ever say this, and I’m sure many people who have read this book will wholeheartedly agree… the movie is better than the book.

While I do appreciate how the book gave a stronger backstory on all the characters (especially Fezzik and Inigo; it even helped explain some of the jokes in the movie), the “non-story parts,” like all the abridgment explanations and “narrator/main character” parts took away from the actual story, and also made it so depressing at points with the loveless marriage/family.

The movie takes the actual story, adds onto the humor and action with a spectacular cast, and is overall more heartwarming, especially with using the sick grandson being read to by his loving grandfather storyline. Perhaps it’s just Rob Reiner’s lovable filmmaking “je ne sais quoi.”

While I gave the book 3 stars, I give the 1987 film 5, and I highly recommend it if you haven’t seen it.

I read The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose. I absolutely loved her first book, The Maid and was excited to see if her second book would live up to the first one. While the mystery guest follows the same loveable characters, I definitely think her first book is better. BUT. I still loved this book and read it within two days.

Word: Women
Book: 3rd Degree by James Patterson and Andrew Gross. (It’s one of the “Women’s Murder Club” series.)
A fun ride, if somewhat lacking in depth. More of an action movie, without too much character development. No regrets, will probably keep reading the series when it fits.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I read The Book of Night Women by Marlon James — book set in slave times in Jamaica, the book is written in patois. I chose to listen to it due to the language and I was also reading another physical book.
Definitely recommends but is is graphic so be warned, TW in my review on my page!

I read the following:

*Lucha of the Night Forest by Tehlor Kay Meija
*Women of Fire & Snow: Short Stories by Nati del Paso

Both were good books.

Challenge Completed (Down): Count Down: How Our Modern World Is Threatening Sperm Counts, Altering Male and Female Reproductive Development, and Imperiling the Future of the Human Race by Shanna Swan, Stacey Colino

I guess enough time has gone by to know that Swan and Colino’s warning has gone unheeded. Big surprise, since it’s just another in a line of warnings that have been ignored. That this one affects the future of the human race, along with a variety of other species, should lend it weight. That is doesn’t says so much more about the human race than the book does.

The idea that there will be less people seems like a good thing, but the authors see a downside to that as well. But if there’s to be suffering (not enough young to pay for the old,) well, nothing is free.

There’s a lot of information in the book, covering a variety of causes and effects. I’d known about how the chemicals have been affecting other species, especially amphibians, but I think it was good that their plight is also covered. We’re not alone. But given what’s happening, it may be the other species that will find their number dropped by one.

I read The Women by Kristin Hannah. It was a good book. It was very informative and heartbreaking.

Found the Teacher of Warsaw for my "teach" book. Very philosophical.

• Nights of the Living Dead - Anthology
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

This doesn’t happen very often, but there wasn’t a single short story in this collection that I disliked. Lots of hard-hitting authors in this anthology, many of which I was already familiar with.

I read The Night Olivia Fell by Christina McDonald. It was the 1st book I've read from her and I liked it. Good mystery, and I admit to being tearful at the end.

I read The One Night by Meghan Quinn and the Women by Kristin Hannah

Here are the books read in February with the following key words– Heir, Night, Bride, Down, Women, Hand, Teach, Guest:

Heir-
The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins 3 stars
The Stolen Heir by Holly Black 3 stars
Something in the Heir by Suzanne Enoch 2 stars
The Last Heir to Blackwood Library by Hester Fox 3 stars
An Heir Comes to Rise by C.C. Peñaranda 4 stars
Dark Heir by Faith Hunter started reading and to be finished in March. Love this series.

Night-
The Overnight Guest by Heather Gudenkauf 4 stars
Night Road by Kristin Hannah Heartbreaking and I can relate as a mother of highschoolers; do recommend 5 stars
Midnight by Dean R. Koontz 2 stars

Bride-
A February Bride by Betsy St. Amant 3 stars
The Picture Bride by Lee Geum-yi 4 stars
The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo 4 stars
The House of Brides by Jane Cockram 3 stars
Brandon's Bride by Alicia Scott 5 stars
Bride by Ali Hazelwood 4 stars

Down-
They All Fall Down by Rachel Howzell Hall 3 stars
Countdown by James Patterson 4 stars

Women-
The Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok 4 stars
Women in Love by D.H. Lawrence 2 stars
The Glass Woman by Caroline Lea 3 stars
Three Women Disappear by James Patterson 3 stars
The Women by Kristin Hannah 5 stars
MacNamara's Woman by Alicia Scott 4 stars
The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict 5 stars

Hand-
The Hand That Feeds You by A.J. Rich 2 stars

Teach-
Buddha's Teachings by Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai 3 stars
The Teacher by Freida McFadden 5 stars

Guest-
The Overnight Guest by Heather Gudenkauf4 stars
The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose 4 stars
The Dinner Guest by B.P. Walter 3 stars
The Unexpected Guest by Agatha Christie 4 stars
The Guest by B.A. Paris 3stars

I read Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

Challenge Complete!
Key word: women
Book: A Woman of Independent Means by Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey

This is a book I've had for a long time. I don't remember where I got it; probably back in the day when book stores in the mall had tables of discounted books. I'm trying to clear out a couple dozen books this year (fingers-crossed); I get too distracted with other people's reviews and suggestions!

I thought I would not enjoy reading the book of letters, but that wasn't the part I didn't like (I actually enjoyed that part). I just didn't like the main character. She's selfish and self-centered and it was hard being sympathetic to her when bad things happened to her. I couple of times I thought about DNF'ing, but I pushed through.

I'm super pleased with my February challenge. I finished literally on the 29th but I managed to read a book for each word and only used my already owned Kindle books. Yay, me! :)
HEIR - Blood Heir, by Ilona Andrews
NIGHT - The Owl Always Hunts At Night, by Samuel Bjork
BRIDE - Never The Bride, by Charlotte Fallowfield
DOWN - All Fall Down, by Tom Bale
WOMEN - Killer Women Crime Club Anthology #1
HAND - Take My Hand, by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
TEACH - Teach Me, by Red Phoenix
GUEST - The Summer Guest, by Emma Hannigan

I tried reading a book for each key word. I didn’t quite make it, still reading a couple of them.
I read Night - Starry Night by Debbie Macomber
Bride - Bride on the Loose by Debbie Macomber
Down - Upside Down by Danielle Steel

Also read Women- Women on the edge Samantha M. Bailey
Hand - Give me your hand Megan Abbot
Teach - The Teacher Freida McFadden
Still reading Heir - The Heiress Rachel Hawkins
Guest - The guest cottage Nancy Thayer

I read The Guest List by Lucy Foley which I loved! (Key Word: Guest)

I read 'The Overnight Guest' by Heather Gudenkauf