Chapter Adventure Reading Challenges discussion

The Key Words for December are:

Snow, Season, Ice, Merry, White, Under, Mistletoe, Inn⁠

Share with us! Which key word did you pick? What book did you read and what did you think of the book(s)

My last one! Despite all the doubts and slumps throughout the year, I pushed through and I’m very proud of myself for completing this challenge!

Key Word:
Ice

Book:
Fire and Ice: From Enemies to Lovers by Jayde White

Thoughts:
I was initially nervous about reading this book as it had no reviews or ratings on Kindle, no reviews or ratings on Goodreads, and barely anything popped up when you googled it.

It was good. I’m a sucker for enemies to lovers and this book did it well, thankfully not ending the enemy phase early. I just feel like it could’ve been longer with more character background and development. It also needs to be heavily edited as there was too many incomplete sentences, repeating sentences, misspellings, missing words, and randomly added letters/symbols/numbers.

Key word: Under
Book: Under the Lake by Stuart Woods.
A good mystery with a bit of paranormal thrown in. See my review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Just finished this and it is the perfect holiday read!

A Very Merry Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams

Challenge complete!
Key Word: Season

I trudged my way through Open Season by C. J. Box. Originally, I thought this would be right up my alley, but I found the writing a little too dull for my taste. It just didn't grip me the way I was expecting. Safe to say I won't continue the series...

I read 'The Snow Child' by Eowyn Ivey

• Merry & Bright - Debbie Macomber
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

Super cute. I like Debbie Macomber’s style

Challenge Completed : Key work "Under"

The Best Land Under Heaven: The Donner Party in the Age of Manifest Destiny by Michael Wallis

I’ve read other books about the Donner Party, but none told the lives of the members of the journey as well as this one does. Usually the part of the trip up to their arrival at the foot of the Sierras is glossed over, with most of the story covering their time trapped in the mountains. So much of the reason for their ending up as they did is left out. That they reached the Sierras too late is a given; how that happened is only now fully told.

I was surprised to read that many of the party were doing quite well before they decided to make their way to California. The land still belonged to Mexico, yet that didn’t deter those who believed that it was their right to take it. But the mistakes made along the journey would doom the party.

It’s poignant tale, made more so by the author’s focusing on the different people in the party, their backgrounds, and why they wanted to make the trip to begin with. The reader becomes familiar with them as people, not just historical figures, which makes the story even more tragic.

Challenge Complete!
Key Word: Under
I read Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune. It took me a little while to get into it, but ended up loving it.

1) Snow Drowned- Jennifer Lyle
2) The Snow Hare- Paula Lichtarowicz
3) A Season To Lie- Emily Littlejohn

Initially, I was going to read Under the Bridge since I was trying to do 3 different words, but I ended up DNF'ing it. I liked all 3 but Snow Drowned was my least favorite because I didn't care for the narrator, at time it sounded robotic. The Snow Hare was a WW2 historical fiction involving Poland and Russia, not the typical German/France or England setting. A Season To Lie is the 2nd book in the series, and I didn't know that until I started reading. That was ok, I don't feel like I missed a lot of information, but I think I'll go back at some point and read the rest of the series.

Challenge complete!

Key words: snow, white
Book: Amish Snow White by Ashley Emma

What a coincidence I found a book with 2 key words in the title. I was trying to also read something I owned for the Mount TBR challenge and I believe I got this for free. This book was OK. One of the characters was very irritating, but she wasn't a main character. Very quick read.

In December these are the books read with the following keywords: Snow, Season, Ice, Merry, White, Under, Mistletoe, Inn

Snow- A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon 3 stars; Snow by Orhan Pamuk 3 stars; Voices in the Snow by Darcy Coates 3 stars; Snow by Uri Shulevitz 3 stars; Snow & Rose by Emily Winfield Martin 3 stars; Snow by John Banville 3 stars; Snow Day by Billy Coffey 4 stars; After the Snow by Susannah Constantine 3 stars; The Secret of Snow by Viola Shipman 3 stars; Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Høeg 4 stars; Snow by Ronald Malfi 4 stars


Season- A Season for Second Chances by Jenny Bayliss 3 stars; The Blackbird Season by Kate Moretti 3 stars; The Mating Season by Laurie Horowitz 3 stars; Season of the Machete by James Patterson 3 stars; Different Seasons by Stephen King 3 stars; True; The Four Seasons by Kostya Kennedy 3 stars


Ice- The Route of Ice and Salt* by José Luis Zárate 4 stars; The Ice Harvest by Scott Phillips 3 stars; Thin Ice by Paige Shelton 4 stars; Ice Ghosts by Paul Watson 3 stars; The Ice Queen* by Alice Hoffman 3 stars; The Cradle of Ice by James Rollins 3 stars

* Read in Jan 2025

Merry-Merry Kismet by Anneka R. Walker 3 stars; The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle 3 stars; Merry Merry Ghost by Carolyn G. Hart 3 stars; A Very Merry Romance by Brenda Jackson 3 stars


White-White Ivy by Susie Yang 4 stars; White Fang by Jack London 3 star; The White book by Han Kang 3 stars; White Elephant by Trish Harnetiaux 3 stars; Nantucket White Christmas by Pamela M. Kelley 3 stars; The White Christmas Inn by Colleen Wright 3stars


Under- Murder Under the Mistletoe by Liz Fielding 4 stars; Meet me Under the Mistletoe by Jenny Bayliss 3 stars; Under My Skin by Lisa Unger 4 stars; Under Occupation by Alan Furst 3 stars


Mistletoe- Meet me Under the Mistletoe by Jenny Bayliss 3 stars; The Mistletoe Mystery by Nita Prose 3 stars; Murder under the Mistletoe by Liz Fielding 4 stars; Mistletoe Malice by Kathleen Farrell 3 stars; The Mistletoe Murder by P.D. James 3 stars; Mistletoe in Paradise by Jill Shalvis 3 stars; Mistletoe in Juneau by Dahlia Rose 4 stars


Inn- Christmas Inn Love by Samantha Chase 4 stars; Christmas at the Shelter Inn by RaeAnne Thayne 3 stars; The White Christmas Inn by Colleen Wright 3 stars; The Inn by James Patterson 3 stars; The Murder Inn by James Patterson 3 stars