Chapter Adventure Reading Challenges discussion

The Motif this month is:

"Dynamic Duos”
--> Read a book with a couple of characters that make the perfect pair - whether in business, friendship, or in love.⁠

Share with us! What book did you read and what did you think of it?

For this month, my pick is "Die Stimme der Rache" by Ethan Cross - the FBI agents Ackerman & Shirazi make a pretty dynamic duo.

This month, I'll be reading Suddenly You by Lisa Kleypas.
My friend read it and said me this book fits the challenge =D

The Thin Man - Dashiell Hammet... the couple is Nick and Nora.

Liked the book, a totally flawed but entertaining couple...some chuckle out loud moments as I listened on my daily walks.

I read Unrivaled by Morgan James & Ashlyn Kane. An rivals to lovers hockey player romance.

I read the book The Quarryman's Bride by Tracie Peterson. I really enjoyed it. It is Christian Fiction and was really pleasant to read.

Right now I'm reading the latest Murderbot book by Martha Wells. ART and SecUnit are the best pair.

I read The Recital by Gregg Andrew Hurwitz

Evan and Joey - the best pair ever!

My Motif this month is Stillwater Girls by Minks Kent. The dynamic duo is unexpected, two young women left in an isolated cabin.Their mom leaves to get medical treatment for their little sister and doesn't return.Taught never to leave their little home for the dangerous world, they are running out of food. A stranger makes his way in the cabin and is preparing to leave with them. They make a heroic escape, only to find everything different than they had believed

For the Dynamic Duos Motif this month, I just finished Die Stimme der Rache by Ethan Cross (its original title is "The Black Rose"). FBI agent Nadia Shirazi and serial-killer-turned-FBI-agent Francis Ackerman have quite unique dynamics going on and while this was a gruesome read in places, it was also very riveting, especially the pulse-pounding locked-room escapades.

Kathy Rintelman wrote: "My Motif this month is Stillwater Girls by Minks Kent. "
This sounds like an excellent addition to my TBR, thanks for bringing it to my attention!

I just read the Grave Maurice by Martha Grimes with Plant and Jury being the investigators, but here’s the catch: I DNF’d at 81%. I tried so hard. The last 30% or so was a slog. I didn’t care who did what, finally. So I guess I’ll have to choose another- and that was not a short book!

CHALLENGE COMPLETE! I just finished Fractured by Karin Slaughter. This is where the first season of the television show is based. It is far less dark than the first book plus we get to see the origin of the dynamic duo: Trent & Faith Mitchell. I can’t wait to read the next book & the start of season 2!

I read “Okay For Now” by Gary Schmidt!
I love it, I thought it was so cute. Definitely Young Adult — the mail character is a teenager but has had to deal with a lot of stuff in life due to his abusive household.

• Million Dollar Demon - Kim Harrison
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
Dynamic Duo = Rachel & Jenks
So. We already know that I love this series, and I love the characters. However, I was tempted to knock a star off of my rating due to the overuse of the word(s) slump/slumped/slumping. It caught my attention right away, but by about the 60% mark I was decidedly annoyed by it, and started keeping track of how many times it was used. In the last 40%-ish of the book, slump/slumped/slumping was used 25 times. Now, am I being picky, or is that a lot? I don’t recall repetitive words being a problem in previous books. But maybe I just wasn’t paying attention? And now that my radar has been turned on, I just know my brain is going to be highlighting it in the next book if it continues as a recurring word. Having said that, I did still really enjoy the storyline, and I’m going to be diving directly into the next book.

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

If this isn’t the actual definition of “dynamic duos”, then I don’t know what is. This book grabbed me and didn’t let go for a second. Luckily I had a couple days off so I was able to consume this book in only 3 days. Amazing. Now I’m waiting for the next book to be available through the library!

Challenge complete: Psyche and Eros by Luna McNamara

I wanted to like this book; I really did. The myth of Psyche and Eros (or Cupid and Psyche, as I’ve always known them,) is probably my favorite classical myth. But it’s not a very good book. Forget about all the name dropping (if there’s a mythical character not mentioned, I don’t know who it is,) I just couldn’t get past the reimagining of the two main characters. Neither are especially likable, and Psyche comes across like a modern teenager. She’s spoiled, she shoots her mouth off, and she’s constantly making stupid decisions. Eros doesn’t seem as bad, but that may be because he’s less of the story’s focus.

Leaving that aside, I was amazed at the sloppy research. Eros speaks of terriers, which weren’t around until the 1800s. That’s AD, not BC. And how in the heck does Psyche know about the adrenal gland and adrenaline? The Greeks may have noticed the small piece of matter during a dissection, but they had no idea as to what it did.

Slightly worse are the grammatical slips. Using “I,” instead of “me,” as in “…it will hurt both Psyche and I later (“hurt I later”?)

There are a few good passages, as when Psyche goes with Iphigenia to the wedding she thinks awaits her, that make the book at least passably readable. But mostly, I wouldn’t bother.

I read Kindness Goes Unpunished by Craig Johnson. My choice of duos is Walt Longmire and his buddy Henry Standing Bear. I have watched the entire TV series, and loved it. Just want to say to anyone unsure about reading the books who has seen the TV series, they are very similar, but the shows don’t copy the books close enough to be frustratingly off. The TV series episodes do grab parts of the books, but they are not meant to be exact copies of the books. The characters are a little different in the books than portrayed in the shows, but still seemed of a single mind, for the most part. I very much enjoy both versions, and highly recommend both the series and the books.

I read The Princess Bride, and I absolutely loved it!! I’m a big fan of the movie, and the book, of course, was even better! I’d highly recommend to anyone!

• The Trouble With the Cursed - Kim Harrison
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...
Dynamic duo = Rachel & Jenks

I love this series so dang much 😭

(But also, just in case you were wondering, here are the pages where the word slump/slumping/slumped was used 😆
13, 23, 24, 33 [X2], 73, 79, 82, 94, 96, 109, 111, 115, 119, 132, 149, 159, 161, 172, 176, 181, 190, 210, 211, 230, 246, 257, 260, 279, 284, 302, 307, 316, 322, 323, 324, 325, 329, 330, 331, 332, 334, 342, 390, 391, 395, 398, 406, 407, 431, 463, 477)

Here are the "Dynamic Duos" read this month with a couple of characters that make the perfect pair- whether in business, friendship, or in love.⁠

Beyond the Ice Limit - Preston & Child (authors) 4 stars
A Court of Mist & Fury- Fehre & Rhysand 3 stars
True Colors - Vivi Anne & Dallas 4 stars
A Court of Wings and Ruin - Fehre & Rhysand 2 stars
Outlander - Claire Randall & James Fraser 3 stars
Walk The Wire - Amos Decker & Alex Jamison 4 stars
The Lions of Fifth Avenue - Sadie Donovan & Edwin Gallard 4 stars
Sir Gawain & the Green Knight 3 stars
Maggie's Man - Cain & Maggie love story 4 stars
MacNamara's Woman- CJ & Tamara love story 4 stars
Brandon's Bride- Brandon & Victoria love story 5 stars
MatchUp- Various short thriller mystery stories with male authors paired with female authors. 3 stars
Bride - Misery & Lowe love story of Vampire & Werewolf 4 stars

I read We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz. Best friends Emily and Kristen have a very disturbing relationship that makes them questions themselves and each other . Overall, I enjoyed it.

Challenge Complete!
Read The Ritual Bath by Faye Kellerman. The dynamic duo is police officer Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus, a young Jewish widow, who helped solve a rape and murder. Apparently there are over 20 books with this duo.

I read Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. I enjoyed the story of their relationship growing from early childhood to adulthood.

I read Look For Me by Lisa Gardner. I thought D.D. and Flora were a great duo and loved the book.

Snuck in another one -Naked Heat, by “Richard Castle” aka Tom Straw. Obviously a Nikki Heat/Jameson Rook (Kate Beckett/Richard Castle) duo. This one was a little better than the first in the series, lots of twists. Very much like the TV show vibe, which I always enjoyed anyway. A fun one to round out the month.

Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby - Dynamic Duo of Derek and Buddy Lee. 5 stars!

I read Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

I read A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle. Can't beat Holmes and Watson for a dynamic duo.