Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

Team Brin





⚔ Judith (Captain)
⚔ Lexi (Co-Captain)
⚔ Cindy
⚔ Susan
⚔ Suzanne
⚔ Cathy M.
⚔ Jhmingos
⚔ Dennieta
⚔ Rina
⚔ Sandy
⚔ Rebecca




Team Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

Challenge Status Spreadsheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

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Member Shelves

⚔ Judith: wheel2026
⚔ Lexi: wheel2026
⚔ Cindy: wheelsxi
⚔ Susan: wheel 2026
⚔ Suzanne: 26-wheel
⚔ Cathy M.: wheels 11 2026 brin
⚔ Jhmingos: wheel11
⚔ Dennieta: wheels2026
⚔ Rina: wheel-a-thon-xi
⚔ Sandy: wheel xi
⚔ Rebecca: wheel 11

Important Links and Information

Spreadsheets
Tracking Sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...


General Links
General Rules
Pre-Challenge Chat


Resources
Cover Color: https://labs.tineye.com/color/
Word Count: https://www.arbookfind.com/UserType.a...
https://www.arbookfind.com.au/UserTyp...
https://www.arbookfind.co.uk/UserType...

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BOOK OF THE MONTH (BOM)

Participating in current BOM discussion (3 days minimum) = 20 points.
Writing a day's worth of discussion questions (randomly chosen volunteers) = 40 points

Please feel free to volunteer for DQs even if Judith or I already volunteered as we are happy to take turns. This is true even if I (Lexi) nominated it.

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SEPTEMBER
The Frozen River ~ Discussion Sept 2 here
Blood Over Bright Haven~ Discussion Sept 16 here - (my nomination, we have DQs)

Back Room BOM
Queens of the Jungle~ Discussion Sept 10 here - (Judith's nomination, we have DQs)

OCTOBER
Skyward~ Discussion Oct 2 here - (my nomination, we have DQs)

Polls for other two will be added at the start of Sept

Titles that work for Bonus Points
Age of Myth
Age of Swords
Age of War
Age of Legend
Age of Death
Age of Empyre
Nolyn
Farilane
Esrahaddon
The Crown Tower
The Rose and the Thorn
The Death of Dulgath
The Disappearance of Winter's Daughter
Drumindor
Theft of Swords
Rise of Empire
Heir of Novron

Judith's Notes on Reading Order:

Sullivan recommends publishing order

1. Theft of Swords, Rise of Empire, Heir of Novron to start. In these Royce and Hadrian's relationship as friends and business partners is established already. And in these you get references to The Crown Tower or Drumindor (and the others in this series).

2. However, if you start with The Crown Tower, you don't spoil anything for yourself. Drumindor is actually the most recent publication out of all of the entire list.
The Crown Tower
The Rose and the Thorn
The Death of Dulgath
The Disappearance of Winter's Daughter
Drumindor

3. The Legends series (all the books that start with "Age of"). These take place 1000 years before Royce and Hadrian's story. And is really the story of how the empire of man came to be and characters and places in this series get referenced in the other books but almost a myths and fables. In these you get the "real" story. You could start with these if you wanted to as well.

4. Nolyn, Farilane, and Esrahaddon should be read last. These are almost stand alone books about important characters from the series but you will spoil a lot if you read these first. And will not understand a lot background things going on

Hello Everyone! And welcome to the 11th Wheel-a-thon :)

I am Judith (she/her/hers), captain of this team and one of the mods running this crazy climb! I've been a mod for a few years now and a captain/routine challenge participant for a long time before that.

In real life I'm an environmental economist in the Toxic Chemical office at the EPA. Live on the East Coast and am the mother of one every growing 8 year old who is on the autism spectrum. So my life is full of Legos, trains, cars, and animals. We recently adopted a cat, so that's been a fun adventure.

Most of the team looks like challenge veterans, but please ask any questions you may have. Lexi and I are here to assist in any way we can.

I love Sullivan's books and am very excited for this theme, if you have any questions about reading order, his books, etc, please ask!

Also I am heading out of town in about 2 hours for the weekend. I'll get all the important bits in the top posts filled in once I'm back but in plenty of time for the challenge to begin.

Hi all, I'm Lexi (she/her), and I know most of you all from other challenges. I have co-captained before with Judith, and this is my first challenge as a brand-new mod. (I helped with some of the minis so be warned). I work in global public health, specifically Guinea worm.

Please feel free to ask any question now and throughout. This should be fun and require cooperation and communication as a team; I look forward to playing with all of you.

Hello! I am Suzanne, and so excited to play Wheel with you all! And excited to see those mini challenges :)

Here is my shelf for the game: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

I love this series, so it's super fun to have it as a theme. Have a fun weekend, Judith!

Hi, I am Rina. I am a software developer from Switzerland. I started the Riyria series this year and read the first two books (the first omnibus) in the spring. I am looking forward to read the next books in the series, as well as other books during the Wheel.
My shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Hello! I'm back and will start filling in links for the info and getting the shelves linked.

Had a lovely weekend camping with some family before my son starts school. We lucked out and it only rained one night while we were sleeping :)

Yay, let's run this back! I'm Jhmingos or Lizzie. Either name is fine. I'm excited to join another Wheel this year, especially with our captains, Judith and Lexi. We were just on the Towers team together.

I've never heard of this series, but I'm happy to check it out. I mostly read all kinds of genres, but mystery/thrillers and classics are my favorites.

My Shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

I was going to wait until everyone got here but for those already here, the first BOM on Sept 2 is The Frozen River. I wanted to let people know in case you needed time to get in line at your library.

The Sept 16 BOM is Blood Over Bright Haven.

Thanks Lexi! It helps a lot to access those when we can do it early.

Evening from Louisville Kentucky, my home and Lexi’s childhood home. So I do challenges ever since Lexi got me involved. I enjoy the hunt for books for points because it widens my usual reading(literary fiction, mysteries, sci fi/fantasy). I’ve fallen into an Irish author phase which has been wonderful, but I need a break. Also, I keep a shorter tbr and home has my husband, a goofy Boykin Spaniel, a big orange cat from the shelter and five chickens.

Hello everyone!
My name is Cindy and I live in Colorado with my husband and 2 young daughters. I work in a hospital pharmacy. I've never heard of the series that this wheels is based on but I have added it to my never ending TBR lol.

My Shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Hi Team!
My name is Sandy and I'm in Southern CA. I live with my sister (her name is Cindy!) and my dog and occasional foster dogs. I also have never heard of this series -- I mainly read romance and mystery but I will check it out!
Here's my shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Yay teams are up! Hi everyone, glad to see a lot of familiar faces. And glad to meet the new!

I'm Cathy, an Office Manager of a law firm in LA. I live in a suburb of Charleston, SC so mostly work remote but fly one week each month to LA. Unfortunately that's this weekend when Wheels starts :( I'll be busy with reports and meetings and will make sure I have plenty of audiobooks to listen to while I'm mindlessly working on financial spreadsheets.

I LOVE the the OG Riyria - Hadrian and Royce <3<3 But might pass up all of the Chronicles except for The Crown Tower so I can read all the other series I have yet to read. This gives me the perfect excuse to put aside everything else. Well except if they don't work for the minis. And can't forget about BOMs for points.

Look forward to playing with all of you!

Also - I updated my Wheels shelf (Wheels-11-2026-Brin):

https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Thanks for the other messages Judith & Lexi! Was moving furniture/clearing out my dad's house this weekend so not online until today. It's been over a year since my dad passed and I finally got off my lazy butt to go thru everything so we can FINALLY put the house on the market. It was emotional and tiring. Now I just have the furniture we are trying to sell and then tons of donations to get coordinated and then it will be in others' hands.

It's a lot to emotionally deal with! And not very fun at all.

Good luck with getting the house on the market

Susan wrote: "Evening from Louisville Kentucky, my home and Lexi’s childhood home. So I do challenges ever since Lexi got me involved. I enjoy the hunt for books for points because it widens my usual reading(lit..."

Susan, we need a bookshelf. Don't make me sic Lexi on you :P

Lexi and I will get a tracking sheet put together.

But our first spelling is: Robin Sullivan

Bonus Tag (at least 10): Steampunk

Bonus word (in text): incantation

books can earn a bonus for both tag and word.

Information on the first mini can be found here:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Our first 3 spins are:

Age of Empyre

Heir of Novron

Rise of Empire

Judith wrote: "It's a lot to emotionally deal with! And not very fun at all.

Good luck with getting the house on the market"

Definitely no fun. And I don't think I could've emotionally dealt with that last year. Everyone told me to take my time but it was a lot longer than I originally planned. But I'm almost done!

Judith wrote: "Information on the first mini can be found here:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Our first 3 spins are:

Age of Empyre

Heir of Novron

Rise of Empire"

Yay, can start planning my reads :)

Hi everyone, I’m Dennieta :) This is my first time playing Wheel and I’m happy to see some familiar people here from Tower Teams. I’m not familiar with the Riyria nor any of Sullivan’s books, but looking forward to joining the challenges.

Lexi and I got the tracking sheet together and have the first sets of tasks loaded into the mini.

Feel free to start adding books for those of you that are planners!

If anyone has questions or issues with the spreadsheet, please give a shout. Lexi and I are happy to log things or provide assistance as needed :)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

the tracking sheet is also added to a top post so it's easy to find.

Countdowns for the start and end of all the rounds are on the Summary tab in both spreadsheets.

I think half the fun of doing a challenge is finding books to fit tasks. Thanks for the planning sheet!

Suzanne, it looks like you and I are reading the same 2 books to start. Great minds and all that hahaha :P

Still debating on whether or not to do the backroom BOM. It's just that the page count is so low! With the new book caps, makes me a little more cautious on which ones to do. I should at least look to see if I can actually get a copy so I have it on standby.


Captains - I'm so sorry if I'm just completely blind but can't seem to find this anywhere - for the bonus tag/words, how many points are they?

The bonuses are only 5 points each. They are a fun bonus but don't worry too much. Michael J. Sullivan's books are 20 points each and once per book. Minis are an extra 10. There are many ways to get points.

The backroom is small and I will skip it. Even with the 20 BOM points it is not worth it for me but up to you. Judith has DQs. Before you spend too much time looking for it, I would go check the thread.

Hello Everyone, not my first rodeo for this challenge but it has been a while since I've played. I have not read any of the Riyria books, not even sure that I've heard of them before. I know that is blasphemous to quite a few of you! I'm looking forward to reading/listening to them though. I'm also very happy to be on Judith and Lexi's team as they are phenomenal captains! Looking forward to all the hijinks and fun. Go Team Brin!

Yay! The whole team has arrived! I’m excited to start in a few days

Yeah, since it was my nomination, I get the page points plus 60 additional points. Makes it a bit more worth it and it’ll let me work in some longer books.

You could always wait and then if you are going to be under your cap take 40 minutes to read the book. It probably won’t take longer than that to read the whole thing 😂

Now that everyone is here. I am reposting the BOM in case anyone needs to get in line for the library. You can re-read if it has been more than 6 months and you have an entire month after the BOM starts to read and answer questions. This information is also at the top of the thread with links to the discussions.

The first BOM on Sept 2 is The Frozen River.

The Sept 16 BOM is Blood Over Bright Haven.

I'm really looking forward to The Frozen River. Haven't heard of it, but I can't remember the last time there's been a gritty mystery as a BOM.

I read The Frozen River in June, so no re-reading it for me :-)
I liked it, even though I didn't like the MC that much.

Cathy that's funny we chose the same two first books! Im so happy to be in tower teams with you again - it has been too long!

Hi all,
I wanted to mention our first mini. Many of you are familiar with the wheel concept for tasks. We have three sets of five tasks. Once a set is done, we can get a new set. There are no banking books, so Judith and I may move things around to finish a set and get a new spin if we can. Let us know if that bothers you or if you have any questions.

Also, Jhmingos, when you have a moment, can you check why you added your two books for the tasks to add more details? You don’t quite answer the task as to why your book works.

Sorry, I was trying not to be long-winded, but I added more details. Hopefully it makes more sense. FYI, the book Glorious Exploits has a quirky plot. It's about some bored Syracusans who decide to put on a stage production with Athenian prisoners who were left to die. So the "small act of kindness" is how they bonded with the prisoners.

Thank you! It can be hard to know how much to put down and sometimes I've felt like I'm writing a paragraph and giving a bunch of spoilers

It can be hard to know. Thank you

Judith wrote: "Lexi and I will get a tracking sheet put together.

But our first spelling is: Robin Sullivan

Bonus Tag (at least 10): Steampunk

Bonus word (in text): incantation

books can earn a bonus for both..."

Sorry, but I couldn't find the rules on this. Is the bonus tag and bonus word for this round? Or does it run through the whole challenge? I have some steampunk books I can read, but I wasn't sure if it needs to be done in two weeks.

It’s just for the round. We’ll get a new bonus tag and word for round 2

Also just for everyone's information:

For both tags and words, plural is acceptable
For tags, with and without a space or with a hypen (-) is acceptable
For tags and words, UK and US spelling is fine so cozy and cosy