Romance Readers Reading Challenges discussion

December 2016 PIFM Challenge

What is the Pick-It-For-Me Challenge?

The Pick-It-For-Me Challenge (PIFM) is a reading challenge where each participant gives and receives book recommendations based on a given a set of rules. The assignment method and book selection rules change each month so it’s always new and always different.

The idea of the PIFM challenge is that you will get new-to-you books and authors selected for you as well as a push to read some books that have been lingering on your shelves. You may not be interested in the new books recommended, which is why you also get a minimum of four books from your shelf.

You only have to read ONE book to complete this challenge!

After signups are closed, your names and any extra info will go into the super secret PIFM randomizer and it will select someone for you to recommend books to and someone to give you recommendations. This list will be posted along with any specific picking rules for the month.

In order to participate you need to either HAVE YOUR PROFILE SET TO PUBLIC (preferable), or friend the person giving you recommendations. PLEASE NOTE: if you choose to keep your profile private, it is your responsibility to send a friend request to the person picking for you as soon as possible after the matchups are posted. Whether your profile is private or not, it is also very important that your profile be set to receive Private Messages (PMs) in case anyone needs to reach out to you (mods, organizer etc.)

Everything gets done in this thread so be sure to come back often!!!

Repicks:
You can ask for repicks if:
✱ The books picked for you are not yet released.
✱ If you have already read the chosen book(s) and they are on your ‘read’ shelf.
✱ If you did not receive four picks from your ‘to-read’ shelf, with at least one from your preferred shelf.

You may NOT ask for repicks because:
✱ A book is not available at your library.
✱ A genre or author you don’t enjoy.


INFORMATION NEEDED TO SIGN UP:
Please sign up in this thread with the answer to the following question:

✱✱ What is your favorite thing about a holiday? ✱✱

A. Spending the day with family/friends
B. Sleeping late
C. Extra reading time

✱✱ If you have a preferred shelf, please list it along with your pick! ✱✱

IMPORTANT DATES
Sign ups will remain open until November 23rd (3 pm US EST).
For your convenience a Time Zone Converter.

You’ll have until November 27th (1 pm US EST) to make your recommendations.

Please do not start reading your book(s) until the first of the month. You then have the entire month to read your pick(s) and give some feedback.

If you’re new please read the PIFM Guidelines and FAQ. If you have any questions that are not addressed there, please feel free to ask!


✱Please note that late sign ups will be included at the host's discretion and no one will be included after re-picks are assigned!✱

TIPS TO MAKE THE CHALLENGE ENJOYABLE FOR EVERYONE!

Pickees
✱ To help your picker understand the type of books you like or are currently reading, please make sure your ‘read’ shelf is up to date. You can create shelves for books you DNFed (Did Not Finish) or authors that don’t work for you as well as favorite books and authors. In addition, you might consider updating your profile. You can include info about your favorite books, authors, genres, themes or tropes (or themes/tropes you dislike – i.e. secret baby).
✱ Please do not specify likes/dislikes in the sign-up thread. This information will not be included in the pairings and your pickee may not see your message and does not need to rely on that information when making picks.

Pickers
✱ Please remember this is primarily a romance readers group. Thus, most, if not all, of your picks should be romance. There are various sub genres within the romance category - Contemporary, Historical, Paranormal, Romantic Suspense, Erotica, M/M, Urban Fantasy. If your pickee reads a wide variety, you could add a non-romance as a choice.
✱ Choose at least 4 new titles for your pickee. These can be brand new to them (not found on any of their shelves) or a book found on their shelves if they've never read any of the author's work previously.
✱ Remember, too many options is often worse than too few! It can be overwhelming to have too many books to choose from. Please limit your picks to no more than two for each picking rule.

A few hints to help with book selection:
✱ Check the book’s publishing date. Select "date pub" from the checkbox selections and save.
✱ Check pickee's personalized shelves, especially their exclusive shelves. A personalized shelf is one the member has created. (e.g., 'to read next', 'favorites' ‘didn’t like’)
✱ Make sure the books you choose are not on their 'read' shelf. Just because it isn't rated doesn't mean it wasn't read.
✱ Look at your pickee's 'read' shelf and see what genres they have recently read or read the most. Reviewing their ‘read’ shelf might help you in choosing something they are interested in reading right now.
✱ If your pickee reads lots of books in a genre you are not familiar with (erotic romance, GLBT, YA, etc.) Contact the Mods or the month's organizer for guidance.
✱ Include a variety of books (e.g., shorter page count, new addition to their 'to-read' shelf, an older book on their 'to-read' shelf) This variety gives your pickee options when choosing the book or books they will be reading this month. Use the sort feature within their shelves to determine date a book was added, published or read; page numbers, ratings, etc.

If you want to volunteer to make repicks:
✱ We love that you want to help out, but please remember those who need picks have been waiting for a long time already. Please only volunteer if you are able to make the repicks within a few hours of the deadline. Thank you!

December 2016 PIFM Challenge - Pairings

Please pick for the person below you in your group. The last person in each group picks for the first person, for example MountainKat picks for LaurLa.


✔ indicates picks have been made
updated through msg #107

Spending the day with family/friends:
✔LaurLa - 04-challenges-to-pick‎
✔Nancy H
✔Rebecca
✔Pamela
✔Shelby - current-challenge-to-reads‎
✔Danielle - next-months-books‎
✔Diane ~Firefly~ - mng-picking
Aneerah (Private)
✔Zara - rrrc-mngc-decjan-1617
Lekshmy
✔Alexis - pifm-books
✔Ezinwanyi~ThatEzi - audiobook or meet-greet-recs or review-books
✔Kait
✔~KarenH~ - cant-wait-to-read
✔Tammie (Private) - pifm
✔MountainKat - to-read-asap


Sleeping Late:
Mindy
Suzanne
✔Pam - pick-it-challenge‎
✔Jojo - 2016-mng
✔Fran (Private) - a-pifm-shelf


Extra Reading Time:
✔Sandra - pifm
✔Carmen the Bootyshaker Temptress - pick-it-for-me or meet-greet-picks‎
✔Irina
✔Rachel C. - must-read-by-end-of-2016
✔Sandy - to-read-next‎
✔☘KathyD☘ - cp-pick-it-for-me or cp-books-to-reread‎
✔Kimberly
Ashley
✔Tink Magoo is bad at reviews - meet-and-greet-picks or own-it-already‎
✔Vandhana

December 2016 PIFM Challenge - Picking Rules

Holidays are wonderful things. Sometimes they bring joyful gatherings of family and friends, some are more serious days of reflection and/or commemoration, and sometimes they just give you some time away from the daily grind to do as you please. What's your favorite holiday?

For each of the rules below, you can also recommend a book that has the holiday as a part of the storyline in some way...could be easy for some, but not so much for some others!

New Year's Day: Recommend a new release (within the last 6 months), or a book by an author you have recently discovered and enjoyed.

Valentine's Day: Recommend a heartwarming love story, complete with HEA, or a book with red prominently on the cover.

St. Patrick's Day: Recommend a book set in Ireland or with an Irish character, or a book with green on the cover or with a snake (literally or figuratively) on the cover or in the storyline.

Mother's Day/Father's Day Recommend a book in which a MC's parent plays a part in the story, or a book in which a MC is a parent. Or you can recommend a book with an older MC (paranormals count).

Independence Day: Recommend a book with a strong, fiery heroine, or a book with a lot of "fireworks" between the MCs, or a book with a mostly yellow and/or orange cover.

Veteran's Day/Remembrance Day: Recommend a book with a wartime setting or with a MC that is a current or former member of the military, or a book with a mostly black cover.

Christmas: Recommend any holiday-themed book, or a book with a colorful cover (at least 4 different colors)

New Year's Eve: Recommend a book that has been on your pickee's TBR for at least a year (or among the oldest if there are none that old), or a book that is by one of your long-time favorite authors.

Please make sure you have at least 4 books from your pickee's TBR and 4 that are new to them, but remember, too many options is often worse than too few! It can be overwhelming to have too many books to choose from. Please limit your picks to no more than two for each picking rule.

December 2016 PIFM Challenge

I'm in again.

C. Extra reading time

If you could use this or this shelf

I'm in! My favorite thing about holidays is time with family and friends.
04-challenges-to-pick

I'm in

A. Spending the day with family/friends

I'm in with
A. Spending time with family and friends.

Please pick from my PIFM Books

I'm in - Spending the day with family and friends

It's been a long time since I've done this challenge so I thought I would give it a go again.

A. Spending the day with family/friends

Please use this shelf: rrrc-mngc-decjan-1617

Extra reading time.

pifm

I'm in - A. Spending the day with family/friends

My favorite part about the holidays is spending the day with family/friends :)

I love spending time with family and friends, watching the Dallas Cowboys, eating and playing games like Scattergories, UNO and tabooo.

Audiobook Shelf or meet-greet recs Or Review books

Extra reading time - on a holiday?! You can't be serious!

It's most definitely spending time with family and friends for me!

Please use my to-read-asap shelf - thanks!

A. spending time with family and friends

MountainKat wrote: "Extra reading time - on a holiday?! You can't be serious!

It's most definitely spending time with family and friends for me!

Please use my to-read-asap shelf - thanks!"

What can I say ... I'm antisocial :D

I'm in! (private profile)

I'm going to say 'B', sleeping late. Partly because no one has chosen that one yet and I thought I would show it some love, lol, and partly because I do love to sleep!

PIFM Shelf

MountainKat wrote: "Extra reading time - on a holiday?! You can't be serious!

It's most definitely spending time with family and friends for me!

Please use my to-read-asap shelf - thanks!"

I see them all year anyway, so a day off work is a lie in and a good book. And then go see the family again!

although I am a huge fan of sleeping...I have to answer that I love the extra reading time!!
cp-pick-it-for-me or cp-books-to-reread

I'm in

A. Spending time with family and friends

My Shelf: Danielle's Shelf

Can I say all of the above? No? Ok I will go with C, plus watching the Cowboys with Ezi!

To Read Next or anything from my To Read shelf.

I'm In... I'm stuck between A and C, but I think I will go with C. Extra Reading Time :)

must read by end of 2016

Well, I sort of get to join you all with extra time on Thanksgiving this year - the kids are doing in-laws and we are celebrating on Friday! But that day will be filled with football and food prep, so I still don't see any extra reading time. I am looking forward to it though - it looks like the games should be good this year. One thing I can usually count on is the Thanksgiving games being bad and not caring that I am really missing most of them.

But Friday and Saturday will be super busy with lots of cooking and tree-trimming on Saturday while the crowd is here. The December gathering is hopeless though, between Christmas, Hanukkah, and my granddaughter's 2nd birthday it will be packed!!

I'm in.
Extra reading time, C
My massive TBR file, please.

I'm in. A - spending time with family/friends

mng-picking

I'm going to go with sleeping late (because I'm up late with all the extra reading time.).

Shelf pick it challenge

If you enjoy this challenge, you might want to give hosting it a try!! Just send me a PM if you are interested - it is a lot of fun really!

Extra reading time

I'm in!
Pick for me and meet-greet shelves

C. Extra reading time

It's been awhile...I'm In!
A. Spending time with family and friends
Please use: Tammie's PIFM Shelf
My Profile is currently private: I will request friend or vice-versa...thanks!

Made it just in time.. I'm in

C. Extra Reading Time

Count me in please. :)

Well it's A. Spending time with family and friends if I can ever get the time off work. :-p

Current Challenge to Reads

I'm in and it's B - I love to be able to sleep late when I can

2016-mng

i look forward to sleeping late.

I am in :)
Of course Option C extra reading time ;)

I'm in and I like Sleep in Late!

Ok everyone, signups are closed! I should have the rules and pairings up shortly!

Pairings and rules are posted, messages 4 and 5. Please double check your preferred shelf links if you can - my spreadsheet just wasn't playing nice today at all!

Also, please note: I've changed the time the picks are due slightly - from 3PM EST to 1PM on Nov 27.

Hi LaurLa!! I'll try to get your picks done tonight, but I've got several things I want to get done today and the day is getting away from me! If not, I'll get them done tomorrow - we are doing our celebration on Friday so the kids can see the in-laws on Thursday. =)

Ashley, I'm working on your picks now. I hope to have them all done today or tomorrow at the latest.

Hi Mindy!

Here are your picks. I hope you find something here you like!
Happy Holidays and Happy Reading!


New Year's Day:
Kept-tbr- new release
Marriage Games-new- new release

Valentine's Day:
Anything but Minor-new- red letters

St. Patrick's Day:
Ruby Tuesday-new- Irish family. I love this series and I noticed you read and enjoyed the first one. There is a bundle of the first 4 books in this series currently FREE on Amazon!

Mother's Day/Father's Day:
Sheltered-new- parent MC. I love Charlotte Stein and this one is so good.

Independence Day:
Sparks Fly- new- 'fireworks' in story- FREE on Amazon right now. And it's a Fourth of July story :)
Ride Steady- tbr- yellow on cover

Veteran's Day/Remembrance Day:
Hell or High Water- tbr- Military MC.

Christmas:
Heating Up the Holidays 3-Story Bundle-tbr-holiday anthology. If you have limited time in December, feel free to read one or more of the stories :)

New Year's Eve:
Rocky Mountain Heat- tbr- over a year on your tbr. I loved this one!

Hello Ashley-
Here is your list. I was able to complete it today. Enjoy!

New Year's Day
Your Title:
New:

Valentine's Day
Your Title:
New:

St. Patrick's Day
Your Title:
New:

Mother's/Father's Day
Your Title:
New:

Independence Day
Your Title:
New:

Veteran's Day/Remembrance Day
Your Title:
New:

Christmas
Your Title:
New:

New Year's Eve
Your Title:
New:

Hi Carmen. Here's your picks. Happy reading!

New Year's Day
Tbr - Well Hung - Lauren Blakely
New - Living in Sin - Isabel Lucero


Valentine's Day
Tbr - Corrupt - Penelope Douglas
New - The Vigilante's Lover - Annie Winters


St Patrick's Day
Tbr - Extreme Exposure - Pamela Clare
New - Marine for Hire - Tawna Fenske


Mothers/Fathers day
Tbr - The Truth About Forever - Sarah Dessen
New - An Unlikely Match - Barbara Dunlop


Independence Day
Tbr - Oblivion - Jennifer L. Armentrout
New - Silent Run - Barbara Freethy


Veterans Day
Tbr - Ignited - Kaylea Cross
New - Soldier Under Siege - Elle Kennedy


Christmas
Tbr - The Christmas Thief - Mary Higgins Clark
New - Christmas with the Reeds - Tammy Falkner


New Year's Eve
Tbr - Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs - Molly Harper
New - Twisted Affair, Vol. 1 - M.S. Parker

Hi Sandy, here are some picks for you. I hope you like them!

New Year's Day
TBR: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts 1 & 2
NEW: Conflict of Interest



Valentine's Day
TBR: Rebel Queen
NEW: Paris Cravings



St. Patrick's Day
TBR: The Welsh Girl
NEW: Green Rider



Mother's Day/Father's Day
TBR: Bound by Flames
NEW: Nuts



Independence Day
TBR: Mistress Firebrand
NEW: You Slay Me



Veteran's Day/Remembrance Day
TBR: Shopping, Seduction & Mr. Selfridge
NEW: Wild Card



Christmas
TBR: Between Sisters
NEW: The Stocking was Hung



New Year's Eve
TBR: Cannery Row
NEW: The Viscount Who Loved Me

Hi KarenH! Happy reading :)

New Year's Day: Recommend a new release (within the last 6 months), or a book by an author you have recently discovered and enjoyed.
TBR: One Snowy Night (Released Nov 08, 2016)
New: Feral Sins (An author I recently discovered and enjoyed. She reminds me of a more serious but equally yummy Eve Langlais)

Valentine's Day: Recommend a heartwarming love story, complete with HEA, or a book with red prominently on the cover.
TBR: Fragments (Red cover)
New: Sleigh Bells in the Snow (Really wonderful, heartwarming series)

St. Patrick's Day: Recommend a book set in Ireland or with an Irish character, or a book with green on the cover or with a snake (literally or figuratively) on the cover or in the storyline.
TBR: Ritual in Death (Mmmm Roarke)
New: Burn for Me (Greenish cover - A little spicier than her other books)

Mother's Day/Father's Day Recommend a book in which a MC's parent plays a part in the story, or a book in which a MC is a parent. Or you can recommend a book with an older MC (paranormals count).
TBR: Off Limits (Mother involvement)
New: Loving Cara (MC is sort of a parent)

Independence Day: Recommend a book with a strong, fiery heroine, or a book with a lot of "fireworks" between the MCs, or a book with a mostly yellow and/or orange cover.
TBR: Wanted! (Yellow cover)
New: The Law of Attraction (Fiery heroine)

Veteran's Day/Remembrance Day: Recommend a book with a wartime setting or with a MC that is a current or former member of the military, or a book with a mostly black cover.
TBR: Tactical Strike (Military)
New: Wrong Number, Right Guy (Blackish cover)

Christmas: Recommend any holiday-themed book, or a book with a colorful cover (at least 4 different colors)
TBR: Merry Christmas, Mr. Miggles (Holiday theme)
New: Hour of the Lion (Colorful cover)

New Year's Eve: Recommend a book that has been on your pickee's TBR for at least a year (or among the oldest if there are none that old), or a book that is by one of your long-time favorite authors.
TBR: Sweet Adventure (Added to your tbr on Nov 18, 2014)
TBR non-preferred shelf: Cry Wolf (Patricia Briggs was my first foray into paranormal and I will be forever grateful that I loved her books and kept seeking out more)

Pamela, I hope you find something here you like!

New Year's Day:
TBR ~ Out of Bounds
NEW ~ The Accidental Werewolf


Valentine's Day:
TBR ~ Dark Lover
NEW ~ A Court of Thorns and Roses


St. Patrick's Day:
TBR ~ The Way to Game the Walk of Shame
NEW ~ Undead and Unwed


Mother's Day/Father's Day
TBR ~ The Selection
NEW ~ Flowers in the Attic


Independence Day:
TBR ~ A Game of Thrones
NEW ~ Outlander


Veteran's Day/Remembrance Day:
TBR ~ Find You in the Dark
NEW ~ Gone with the Wind


Christmas:
TBR ~ Idol
NEW ~ Wish List


New Year's Eve:
TBR ~ Beautiful Disaster
NEW ~ The Queen's Fool

Kait wrote: "Hi KarenH! Happy reading :)

New Year's Day: Recommend a new release (within the last 6 months), or a book by an author you have recently discovered and enjoyed.
TBR: [book:One Snowy Night|29505399..."

Hi Kait,

Thanks for the picks - they look great! At just a quick glance I saw quite a few that I definitely plan on reading next month, and several of the new picks will at the very least make it onto my TBR. Can't wait to get started! :D

@Kait:
Here are your picks. I hope you enjoyed them and your holidays.

New Year's Day: New to You: TBR:

Valentine's Day: New to You: TBR:

St. Patrick's Day: New to You: TBR:

Mother's Day/Father's Day: New to You: TBR:

Independence Day: New to You: TBR:

Veteran's Day/Remembrance Day: New to You: TBR:

Christmas: New to You: TBR:

New Year's Eve: New to You: TBR: