Romance Readers Reading Challenges discussion

I dare you to read ONE book from each genre!

*Pick 1 book that will fit each of these genres. You must try them all to participate.
Contemporary:
Historical OR Regency:
Erotic OR BDSM:
PNR:
Fantasy:
Women's Fiction OR Chick-lit:
GLBT:
Young Adult:
Non-Fiction:
Religious Romance (BONUS): The bonus category and ONLY this one. I will leave it open to add or change, at any time during this challenge. So if you're not sure you can add this category to your list now, don't worry and if you come across it later on you may add it if you wish.

*Make sure to pick your selection carefully, for you will not be able to change the books once we get started. Though you may pick which genre you want to read, at any time, for whatever month you want.

*Duration: 10 months (July 2010 - April 2011)

*Discussion: Have you tried this genre before? What did you think about this book/author?

*We might start on July, but anybody is welcome to join us at any time. Late comers will have to finish along with us though, no extra time.

*Romance is a subgenre, so as long as you pick a book that fits the genres stated above, you may pick whatever other subgenre you prefer.

*Also let me know here, if you need help with any recommendations. Either or any of the other members will be happy to help.

*Lets use the honor system. I will trust that you will comply and not change the books once we get started. When you finish a book(s), you can make a post here of what book you finished and write the discussion topic below each title; as finished with your chosen category for the month.

*If you finish more than one book in a single month. You can skip the following month(s), if that is your wish. You're also welcome to add a book(s), as long as the book(s) you're adding fall under the same genre category you finished early.

*We are allowed to change ONE book in our list, if you have read at least 3 chapters and can explain WHY you cannot keep reading it. Make sure you let me know in the thread, before you change it.

ohhh, sounds tempting...so we have the list the books in advance...geez, rossy!

Oh why NOT? *LoL* I'll give this a shot, but I'll have to post my list after I've figured a few out.

i'm sure i will! lol! if anyone wants LGBT (i'm assuming M/M works just fine) - lemme know...i might need some UF recs

what is BDSM and GLBT?

Is this open-ended, time-wise? I didn't see anything specified.

BDSM is bondage/discipline; dominance/submission; sadism/masochism
GLBT - Gay, lesbian, bi; transexual

Delicious Dee the book slut wrote: "BDSM is bondage/discipline; dominance/submission; sadism/masochism
GLBT - Gay, lesbian, bi; transexual"

Thanks

Dang, why we got to pick the books so early. You're trying to make this hard, Rossy. I got to think about this one. Don't know b/c I like to switch books up. LOL!

I might try this challenge but, like Harper asked, is there a time frame for it?

I'm going to try to do this challenge but it depends on the availability of books since I get the majority of mine from the library. As wonderful as the library is, it's not always reliable.

Other than the previously mentioned questions on the time frame, what exactly is "Religious Romance"? And I'm a little loss at to what to do for "Non-Fiction". Can anyone give me some examples?

There is a Harlequin line called "Love Inspired" that are all religious romances. At least one of the characters is religious, attends church regularly, prays alot, etc. and the romances are clean, ie no sex in the book. Needless to say, they all have a HEA ending. Steeple Hill is another publisher of Inspirational Romances. Most books by Janette Oke or Beverly Lewis would qualify, although they write alot of Amish stories.

Religious Romance is fairly straightforward. A romance where religion is a major theme. A lot of Christian fiction geared towards women qualify as Religious Romance. Beverly Lewis' Amish/Mennonite fiction is quite good - I've read a number of her books and will probably read from her newest series.

I'm a little lost on Non-Fiction myself but sort of leaning towards a romantic memoir.

do they have to all be romance - can we have one that isnt? I have a book on abe lincoln i got to read for something else that is a NF...I think one non-romance choice...puleeze rossy!!

Thank you Briansgirl & N. L. This will DEFINITELY be a challenge for me then since I don't read many non-fiction novels or Religious Romances as I've been Agnostic since I was 12. I love a good challenge that opens your mind & makes you think!

♠LethalLovely~HBBIC♠ wrote: "Thank you Briansgirl & N. L. This will DEFINITELY be a challenge for me then since I don't read many non-fiction novels or Religious Romances as I've been Agnostic since I was 12. I love a good cha..."

LL, there is one that would count as "religious romance" that I've had on my TBR for a while and I'll probably use that one for this challenge. It's called Redeeming Love and it came highly recommended.

For non-fiction, you could do The Bridge Across Forever: A True Love Story. I'm doing that one or She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders.

LL - I'm not Christian at all but I do enjoy reading some Christian fiction. It's different but enjoyable. The Beverly Lewis books I've read focus more on the story and romance than the religious aspects while still involving the religion if that makes sense at all. :)

Yeah it makes sense, N. L. I believe I read one Religious Romance & I didn't even know it was RR until I went to the author's website! It was Bride Most Begrudging but I don't know if any of her other novels qualify as RR.

Thanks for the rec's Harper & N. L. & I will take both rec's into consideration. I don't really want to get a list together until we find out what the timeframe is.

BTW Harper, is She's Not Dead about the transexual man-turned-woman? If so that is freaking fantastic because my mom just got that book the other day at a yard sale!

♠LethalLovely~HBBIC♠ wrote: "Yeah it makes sense, N. L. I believe I read one Religious Romance & I didn't even know it was RR until I went to the author's website! It was Bride Most Begrudging but I don't know i..."

LL, "She's Not There" is about a transexual man-turned-woman, yep. :) I have it somewhere and I've been meaning to read it forever.

Awesome ☺. That means I've already got a book I can read for Non-Fiction. Woot Woot!

Nice! I have a few, so I need to figure out which one I want to read. It's not my favorite genre, so most of my NF books are parenting ones.

Ooooohhhh....this sounds like a blast. Count me in.

Okay, Rossy, stop torturing us. :)

What is the time frame of this dare?

she's probably sitting back drinking margharita's laughing at us!!

Delicious Dee the book slut wrote: "she's probably sitting back drinking margharita's laughing at us!!"

Boy, do we know our Rossy well. : )

I vote for at least 10 months so that I actually have a chance of finishing. LOL.

Yz the Whyz wrote: "Delicious Dee the book slut wrote: "she's probably sitting back drinking margharita's laughing at us!!"

Boy, do we know our Rossy well. : )"

*ROFLMAO* Ok, so i was just drinking a frozen margarita while reading these post, BUT not the whole time just now.

I finally got somebody to come by and fix my stupid internet, which kept giving me trouble and finally went belly up after i posted this thread.LOL

Let me clarify a few things because as i explained before, i couldn't do it earlier.
1. It will go for 10 months!
2. We can figure out when to start it TOGETHER first, but anybody is welcome to join us at any time. Late comers will have to finish along with us though, no extra time.
3. Romance is a subgenre, so as long as you pick a book that fits the genres stated above, you may pick whatever other subgenre you prefer.

Samantha wrote: "Dang, why we got to pick the books so early. You're trying to make this hard, Rossy. I got to think about this one. Don't know b/c I like to switch books up. LOL!"

Hey, it's a DARE it has to be a bit hard. Guess what though, you get to choose WHICH genre you want to read in which month.

I'm thinking it's about time I did a proper challenge -- I'm in!

I know for a fact I'm going to need a recommendation for GLBT, though -- Delicious Dee, can you give me a couple?

I may give this one a go. Rossy drives a hard challenge. :)

Tammy wrote: "I'm thinking it's about time I did a proper challenge -- I'm in!

I know for a fact I'm going to need a recommendation for GLBT, though -- Delicious Dee, can you give me a couple?"

I can give you some recs, too, if you'd like. :) I don't know if you'd prefer M/M or F/F, so I'll recommend some in both.

M/M
Caught Running
Tigers and Devils
Zero at the Bone
Faith & Fidelity
Take My Picture
Warrior's Cross

F/F
Empress of the World
Annie on My Mind
Tipping the Velvet
Rubyfruit Jungle

Rossy ~*~ Ehrotic ~*~ wrote: "Yz the Whyz wrote: "Delicious Dee the book slut wrote: "she's probably sitting back drinking margharita's laughing at us!!"

Boy, do we know our Rossy well. : )"

*ROFLMAO* Ok, so i was just dr..."

I'm glad it'll be 10 months! What about starting in July?

Ok, so basically we can pick which category to do for each month. Can we read more than one category in a month or are we allowed to only start & finish one for each month?

Because I read an average of about 10-14 books a month & I could totally knock this challenge out in 1-2 months if I wanted to. I just don't want to list books for this challenge that I might decide to read for another challenge at another time.

I'm impressed by your mad reading skillz, LL. I think the most I've finished in a month was 7-8 books because I get into reading funks...not to mention that having a toddler around severely cuts into my reading time.

Totally understandable, Harper. And thank you ☺. I'd probably read less than that if I had a kiddie running around. Only reason I read so much is because all I do is go to school & go home. Maybe hang out with friends occasionally. My fiance works two jobs so I'm left with alot of free time. This month I'm reading a total of 13 books for challenges & I've already knocked off a few that weren't for challenges so *shrugs*

BTW, for anyone who's interested, Julie Anne Peters writes primarily GLBT novels though I think most of them are YA.

ETA: Oh & these are also YA novels with GLBT main/supporting characters:

♠LethalLovely~HBBIC♠ wrote: "Totally understandable, Harper. And thank you ☺. I'd probably read less than that if I had a kiddie running around. Only reason I read so much is because all I do is go to school & go home. Maybe h..."

Thanks for posting that author and those book recs! I added some to my TBR pile. That thing gets bigger and bigger by the day and my reading pace can't keep up. Ah, well. Maybe I'll get to them all eventually!

All righty. I won't read any of these until we settle on an official start date, but here goes...

My List

1/10 Complete

Contemporary: The Next Best Thing - Kristan Higgins
Historical OR Regency: The Perfect Rake (Merridew Sisters #1) - Anne Gracie
Erotic OR BDSM: Voyeur - Lacey Alexander
PNR: Demon from the Dark (IAD #10) - Kresley Cole
Urban Fantasy/Fantasy: Tempest Rising (Jane True #1) - Nicole Peeler
Women's Fiction OR Chick-lit: Sushi for One? (Sushi Series #1) - Camy Tang
GLBT: The Tin Star - J.L. Langley
Young Adult: Catching Fire (Hunger Games #2) - Suzanne Collins (Completed: 7/10/10)
Non-Fiction: Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex - Mary Roach
Religious Romance (BONUS): Redeeming Love - Francine Rivers

I'm in! This looks like a toughie! So we only read one a month though, right? We can't do it all at once?

totally agree with the M/M ones that Harper gave, i'm not into F/F - other ones to check out - More than Make-believe by Tymber Dalton; Heidi Cullinan (author - she has a lot of good intro books out); the M/M romance group also has a list for first time readers, which I can get and send to anyone if they want

Harper wrote: "Tammy wrote: "I'm thinking it's about time I did a proper challenge -- I'm in!

I know for a fact I'm going to need a recommendation for GLBT, though -- Delicious Dee, can you give me a couple?"
..."

if anyone wants a BDSM rec, I would say check out Cherise Sinclair - she has the Club Shadowlands series; as well as a couple stand alones that are really good and not too indepth...also Tymber Dalton, the Reluctant Dom (make sure you have a box of tissues)

Oh wow Dee! I have the Reluctant Dom on my TBR. I'll have to use that book for that category.

its really sad, but its a good intro to the subgenre...because its about a guy getting introduced to the lifestyle

Count me in, Rossy! Thanks to this group I have stepped way out of my comfort zone the last few months, which is a good thing! :-)

phew - that's my explanation on why I read so much too...school, and work...lol!

♠LethalLovely~HBBIC♠ wrote: "Totally understandable, Harper. And thank you ☺. I'd probably read less than that if I had a kiddie running around. Only reason I read so much is because all I do is go to school & go home. Maybe h..."

♠LethalLovely~HBBIC♠ wrote: "Ok, so basically we can pick which category to do for each month. Can we read more than one category in a month or are we allowed to only start & finish one for each month?

Because I read an ave..."

Well 1 for each month is what we're committed for, but i always end up reading more than one. So if you want you can keep on going, and come to the thread and let us know how you liked the books.

Gus wrote: "I'm in! This looks like a toughie! So we only read one a month though, right? We can't do it all at once?"

You can read more than once if you can, but if you can only get to 1 you're still good!

I'm in-

There is a free book for kindle on Amazon right now that is considered Christian/Inspirational if anyone needs a religious pick - Love Comes Softly by Janette Oke.

Also, Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern is supposed to be really funny and is NF.

Sandy wrote: "Count me in, Rossy! Thanks to this group I have stepped way out of my comfort zone the last few months, which is a good thing! :-)"

Glad to have you, Sandy!

Steph wrote: "I may give this one a go. Rossy drives a hard challenge. :)"

*innocent smile* Who me? LOL!

Harper wrote: "Tammy wrote: "I'm thinking it's about time I did a proper challenge -- I'm in!

I know for a fact I'm going to need a recommendation for GLBT, though -- Delicious Dee, can you give me a couple?"
..."

I'm not into F/F, but i'll second the m/m recommendations. I really enjoyed them all and are perfect for beginners.
Let me know if anybody wants more beginner recs. I have a few more tha would be perfect.