Romance Readers Reading Challenges discussion

The Amazing Race Team Challenge
April 11, 2020 through June 6, 2020
8 Week Dash For the Win!

Team 4:

★ Cyndee
✓ [[ Frankie ]]
✓ bamaace83
✓ Leslie

The Amazing Race Team Challenge
April 11, 2020 through June 9, 2020
8 Week Dash For the Win!

Tracking:
Task 1 - 1. Each player reads a book by the same author, teams decide author - no pass for this task. Assigned 4.12.2020 / Completed 4.18.2020
Task 2 - 14. Read 4 books with fewer than 500 reviews. Assigned 4.18.2020 / Completed 4.24.2020
Task 3 - 17. Read 4 books that are stand alones. Assigned 4.24.2020 / Completed 4.28.2020
Task 4 - 25. Each player reads a book in a series, teams decide. No pass for this task. Assigned 4.28.2020 / Completed 5.5.2020
Task 5 - 66. As a team, pick a list with over 100 romance books on it, each member reads a book from that list. No pass for this task. Assigned 5.5.2020 / Completed 5.9.2020
Task 6 - 10. Read 4 books tagged/shelved as PNR or fantasy. Assigned 5.9.2020 / Completed 5.13.2020
Task 7 - 58. Read a minimum of 750 pages in books published in any one year prior to 2018, team picks the year. Assigned 5.13.2020 / Completed 5.19.2020
Task 8 - 34. Read 4 books 300 pages or longer. Assigned 5.19.2020 / Completed 5.23.2020
Task 9 - 69. Read over 750 pages in books about the same profession, teams decide which profession. Assigned 5.23.2020 / Completed 5.28.2020
Task 10 - 6. Each player reads a book by a new to you author - no pass for this task. Assigned 5.28.2020 / Completed 6.2.2020
Task 11 - 21. Read a book recommended to you by a teammate - no pass for this task. Assigned 6.2.2020 / Completed 6.8.2020
Task 12 - 100. Read a book with an average rating of 4.2 or higher. No pass for this task. You can read as many books as you wish, each book completed earns a point. Assigned 6.8.2020

The Amazing Race Team Challenge
April 11, 2020 through June 9, 2020
8 Week Dash For the Win!

Challenge Dates:
Signups open until April 11, 2020 at 9 PM US EDT.
Remaining Teams Assigned after signups close on April 11, 2020.
First Task Assigned April 14, 2020 at 6 PM US EDT.
Challenge Ends on June 9, 2020 at Midnight US EDT, tasks will not be accepted after this time.

Each team will work together to complete tasks. Once complete, you will be given another task to complete. After the first task, teams will be on different paths with tasks randomly assigned. The same tasks may be assigned to different teams at different times, but no task will be used more than once by the same team. Each team works at their own pace and the team that completes the most tasks at the end of 8 weeks will be the winner!

After the first task is given to everyone, when a team finishes their task they will need to report their completion in the Tracking/Q&A thread. I will confirm the completion and assign their next task. New tasks will not be assigned more frequently than every other day. I will attempt to respond quickly to confirm completion and assign new tasks, but please allow up to 24 hours. If I am unavailable, another mod will assign the task.

Each teammate will need to participate in each task, but may take a pass for one task during the course of the challenge. For some tasks, no passes will be allowed. Completions posts will need to be made when finishing each book for a task, similar to the PtP and Bachelor Challenges. A player will be removed if they make no comment for 5 days after a new task is assigned or 3 days after the rest of the team completes the task (whichever is later), despite attempts to make contact.

Information required when posting your completion/s:

Task
Book/cover link
Page numbers with source
How book qualified, with links or cover as necessary.
Date Completed.

There is a 150 page minimum for books, rereads and audios ok. Books may only be used once per player during the challenge. Players may read the same book for a task unless otherwise specified. Books do not have to be romance, but must be fiction.

**For this challenge, use the GR Kindle first edition page count if available. Ebook page count will be acceptable if no Kindle page count available. The acceptability of other page counts will be made on an individual basis**

I think most of you know each other, at least a little, but feel free to introduce yourself again. Please give any relevant information, especially time zone as that helps know when it is best to communicate. 😊

Please select a team leader to help keep track of where your team is in any given task. And as necessary guide discussions for task decisions. Any teammate can report your completions though.

PS - If you want to be known as anything other than Team 4, you are free to come up with a team name. 😉

Yay! We have a thread! Would anyone like to volunteer to take the reins on being captain for this one?

TRACKING POST


Current Task (#11):
🟢 21. Read a book recommended to you by a teammate - no pass for this task

Team Completions:

🏃‍♀️[[ Frankie ]]: Completion Post
Book: The Law of Moses
Read: 6/8/20
Pages: Kindle Edition ~ 359 pages
Recommended by Cyndee

🏃‍♀️bamaace83:
Book: Slammed
Read:
Pages: Kindle Edition ~ 311 pages
Recommended by Leslie

🏃‍♀️Leslie: Completion Post
Book: Rush
Read: 6/5/20
Pages: Kindle Edition ~ 304 pages
Recommended by Cyndee

🏃‍♀️Cyndee: Completion Post
Book: Slammed
Read: 6/5/20
Pages: Kindle Edition ~ 311 pages
Recommended by Leslie
__________
IMPORTANT REMINDERS:

⏺ Books can not be started prior to the task being assigned.
⏺ 150 page minimum
⏺ Use the GR Kindle first edition page count if available
__________
🧾 TEAM TASK CHOICES 🧾

9. Read 6 books in the same sub-genre, teams decide.
🧾 Suspense

51. Each teammate reads a book published in the same month and year, teams decide. No pass for this task.
🧾 year: 2018, month: TBD

52. Read 6 books set in the same location, teams decide the location.
🧾 New York

53. Each teammate reads a different book by the same author, no pass for this task.
🧾 Colleen Hoover

54. Read a minimum of 1200 pages in books of the same sub-genre, but by different authors.
🧾 Mystery

55. Pick another team and each member reads one book that was read by a member for this challenge. No pass for this task.
🧾 Team: TBD

56. Read 6 books with the same color cover, teams decide color.
🧾 Blue

57. Each teammate reads a book set in one of your teammates' home town, no pass for this task.
🧾 Cyndee's hometown: Columbus, OH

59. Read 4 books published in the decade of a teammate's birth, team decides which teammate.
🧾 Frankie: 1990s

60. Read 6 books set on a beach or in the mountains, teams decide which.
🧾 Beach ⛱

61. Read a minimum of 1500 pages in books by the same author, teams decide author.
🧾 James Patterson

62. Read 6 books published in a teammates' birth month, you may not use your own month.
🧾 Cyndee: February
🧾 Frankie: July
🧾 Leslie: July
🧾 Anna: March


63. Read over 1000 pages in books that start with the same letter (no articles), teams decide letter.
🧾 Letter: S

65. Read 6 books set in the same country outside the US, teams decide country.
🧾 England

67. Read 6 books with a specific item on the cover, team selects item.
🧾 Shirt

73. Read 6 books published in the year one of the teammates joined RRRC, teams decide which teammate.
🧾 Leslie: joined 2019

75. Read 6 books that have the same romance trope, teams decide which trope.
🧾 Friends to lovers

I'm here. Maybe I could be your back up captain as I haven't done that before. I should start stepping up. I could actually pay attention instead of just reading :)

Storage Wars was soooo confusing to me! I know I’m a little slow sometimes, but still. LOL. So I just hung back in the background & just added my books to the sheet.😂

[[ Frankie ]] wrote: "Storage Wars was soooo confusing to me! I know I’m a little slow sometimes, but still. LOL. So I just hung back in the background & just added my books to the sheet.😂"

I think we were all just reading away for the money but no one cared too much about the whole locker thing? And there's Leslie trying to keep us engaged in the game like we were supposed be like "Hey, guys, aren't we supposed to be bidding on these things?" 😂

Leslie, if you wanna co-captain with me that would be AWESOME!!

Cyndee wrote: "[[ Frankie ]] wrote: "Storage Wars was soooo confusing to me! I know I’m a little slow sometimes, but still. LOL. So I just hung back in the background & just added my books to the sheet.😂"

I thin..."

hahaha...look at me "adulting" and learning how to Captain!

Leslie wrote: "hahaha...look at me "adulting" and learning how to Captain!
"

Hahahaha!

Ok girls, team name??

And I'm going to convert my first post up there to a tracking post so it's easy to find. :)

There are a couple of tasks that require us to read the same book or author, so I'm curious:

Who are your top 5 favorite authors?

Is there a genre and/or a romance troupe you 100% avoid?

Storage wars was very confusing. Maybe I just didn’t understand it well enough. Hmm top five authors...Nora Roberts. Catherine Coulter. James Patterson. I’ve been really liking Karin slaughter and maya banks recently. I will read pretty much anything. I’m not a huge fan of sci-fi but if that’s what we are given I’ll make it through. I still have memories of struggling through gideon the ninth.

For Romance Authors, I really like Colleen Hoover, Cristina Lauren, James Patterson (but I might have read all of his books with a Romance Genre), Katy Regnery, Jamie McGuire, Nicholas Sparks. Some authors I haven't read alot of, but liked and would like to read more Emily Giffin, Tessa Dare, Katherine Center, Hazel Gaynor, Jennifer Robson. I haven't ready any Maya Banks yet, but have her on my TBR list. I'm also very happy to try new authors. I'm not the biggest fan of sci-fi either, but have read some that I liked. I'm also not the biggest fan of the Reverse Harem type of books or anything that is remotely close to a Horror book.

I'm not that creative, but I found these online...

The Need to Read
Restless Readers
Rapid Readers
Readers on the Run
We’re Bookin’ It!
Books & Beyond

I LOVE We're Bookin' It!

Cyndee wrote: "I LOVE We're Bookin' It!"

I really liked that one too :)

That’s funny, Leslie, because I’m opposite! Although I do love Colleen Hoover, romance is one of my least favorite genres (ironically enough)... & horror is my ‘number one’ favorite genre! My favorites are horror, thriller/suspense, paranormal & fantasy.

Some of my favorite authors include Colleen Hoover, Neal Shusterman, Holly Black, John Grisham, Alexandra Bracken, & Nora Roberts. I also really love the Lemony Snicket books. Those are great. LOL.

(I gave up on adding all these books back to my read shelf when I lost my account a while back, so that’s why there aren’t many of those on my shelf at the moment. But I keep telling myself I am gonna sit down one day & go through & re-add all my books - but gosh that’s a lot of work & I seem to never have the time to do it.)

We’re Bookin’ It & Readers on the Run are my top fave team names! I’m good with whichever y’all pick, though. :]

I love Thrillers, especially psychological thrillers and Historical Fiction too. I just focused on Romance authors as I figure for this challenge anything we have to read has to be MPG Romance.

I like We're Bookin' It. I'm home now. Today was a long day. Yeah, I probably need to update my list with books that I read long time ago but I'm just like pfft I'll just read them again at some point if they were list worthy. I also like all those authors y'all listed. I just was introduced to Christina Lauren last year and I need to finish some of those books.

Put our name request in with Kat. 😁

Colleen Hoover. is. amazing.

My other favs, since I didn't answer myself yet...Emma Scott, Jessica Park, Kim Holden, Amy Harmon, Rachel Higginson, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Jewel E Ann, Brittany Cherry, blah blah blah, I could go on forever. Basically, if it rips your heart to shreds and then pieces it back together, that's my jam. Love me some angst. But truly, I'm just a romance junky. Frankie loves me anyway. 😂

I'm not a sci-fi fan but I'm not 100% opposed to anything. I used to say I don't like paranormal, but it's more that I'm just really picky about it. Same with historical. I do love a good psychological thriller, ESPECIALLY if I can't figure it out by the end and look like this at the plot twist: 😳

I've been reading up through the Q&A just to get an advanced idea on anything that might need clarification in the future so if you have questions, feel free to ask them here before searching through pages and pages of the Q&A thread.

Also, just wanted to point out because this is the one that always gets me when I'm involved in too many challenges at once, but for this one: The books can not be started prior to the task being assigned.

Oh that's good to know on not starting the books beforehand. I agree on the paranormal books. I loved the Mercy Thompson series but then everyone kept raving about this Ilona Andrews author and after reading the Mercy books well I just don't like that series as well. It just needs to hold my interest. I also love some good thrillers. That's partly why I've been reading Karin Slaughter because she keeps my mind turning for reals.

Cyndee wrote: "Put our name request in with Kat. 😁

Colleen Hoover. is. amazing.

My other favs, since I didn't answer myself yet...Emma Scott, Jessica Park, Kim Holden, Amy Harmon, Rachel Higginson, Taylor Jenk..."

I will definitely need to check out some of these authors...I too love me some angst.

Would it be worth taking a look at some of the challenges and figure out ahead of time what books might work? I'm thinking of the ones where we have to agree on something like:
1. Each player reads a book by the same author, teams decide author
9. Read 6 books in the same sub-genre, teams decide.
25. Each player reads a book in a series, teams decide
51. Each teammate reads a book published in the same month and year, teams decide.
52. Read 6 books set in the same location, teams decide the location.
56. Read 6 books with the same color cover, teams decide color.
61. Read a minimum of 1500 pages in books by the same author, teams decide author.
65. Read 6 books set in the same country outside the US, teams decide country.

There are quite a number of these tasks where we have to agree...if we decide now, we can avoid the back and forth when the task is assigned and just get to reading...or is this me being too intense?

Definitely a great idea Leslie! Not too intense at all. We could probably save DAYS over the course of the 8 weeks by hammering out these details now.

Here's my thoughts/opinions on the ones you pulled out:

For 1. Each player reads a book by the same author, teams decide author I wondered about Colleen Hoover since most of us have her on our favorites list. I've read everything she's done, most of them more than once, but I wouldn't mind another re-read and in fact had planned to do so soon anyway. (Frankie, I think you'd like Verity or Too Late if you haven't read those yet).

For 9. Read 6 books in the same sub-genre, teams decide. I have very little opinion and will try almost anything. What about Suspense or Dark?

Same for 25. Each player reads a book in a series, teams decide. I have A LOT of series already in progress but am always looking for good ones. Have one you're in the middle of and want to continue it? Point me toward book #1. :)

51. Each teammate reads a book published in the same month and year, teams decide. - No preference on month, but I'd probably prefer something 2015 or later.

52. Read 6 books set in the same location, teams decide the location. - Should we stick with someplace popular like New York or Chicago?

56. Read 6 books with the same color cover, teams decide color. - Blue is a pretty popular cover color. Or black. Definitely NOT orange (even though it's my favorite color). LOL!

61. Read a minimum of 1500 pages in books by the same author, teams decide author. Since we're all psychological thriller lovers, maybe we should choose one of those authors for this one!

65. Read 6 books set in the same country outside the US, teams decide country. My recommendation here falls into that "whatever is easy to find" camp...so maybe England, Canada, Ireland, France, Italy?

Does everyone have easy access to a wide variety despite the libraries being closed? I do so I sometimes forget that is a factor to consider.

Leslie wrote: "I love Thrillers, especially psychological thrillers and Historical Fiction too. I just focused on Romance authors as I figure for this challenge anything we have to read has to be MPG Romance."

I can’t believe I forgot to mention historical fiction! I seriously am losing my mind lately. I 💚 historical fiction, definitely in my top genres. I guess because I haven’t been able to read a lot of it lately is why I left it out!

Leslie wrote: "I love Thrillers, especially psychological thrillers and Historical Fiction too. I just focused on Romance authors as I figure for this challenge anything we have to read has to be MPG Romance."

Also, I’m pretty sure they don’t have to be MPG Romance for this challenge. At least that’s what I was told when I signed up! So I hope that’s the case, or I am screwed. 😂

Cyndee wrote: "But truly, I'm just a romance junky. Frankie loves me anyway. ..."

Oh, for sure. But I think you’re trying to ‘turn me’ by making me sign up for these romance challenges.🤔😂 JK

Cyndee wrote: "For 1. Each player reads a book by the same author, teams decide author I wondered about Colleen Hoover since most of us have her on our favorites list. I've read everything she's done, most of them more than once, but I wouldn't mind another re-read and in fact had planned to do so soon anyway. (Frankie, I think you'd like Verity or Too Late if you haven't read those yet)...."

I’d be down for Colleen Hoover if it came down to this one! I’ve read Verity & loved it! I still need to read Too Late & November 9.

[[ Frankie ]] wrote: "I’d be down for Colleen Hoover if it came down to this one! I’ve read Verity & loved it! I still need to read Too Late & November 9."

November 9 is my favorite!

[[ Frankie ]] wrote: "Cyndee wrote: "But truly, I'm just a romance junky. Frankie loves me anyway. ..."

Oh, for sure. But I think you’re trying to ‘turn me’ by making me sign up for these romance challenges.🤔😂 JK"

Hahahahaha! Mwah!

[[ Frankie ]] wrote: "Leslie wrote: "I love Thrillers, especially psychological thrillers and Historical Fiction too. I just focused on Romance authors as I figure for this challenge anything we have to read has to be M..."

Nope, only for the task that specifically states MPG Romance. :D

I’ve decided it’d be easier for me to just say ‘I am okay with ANY of the options you offered, Cyndee!’ versus going through & saying yes to each one individually. LOL. Which is what I was in the process of doing.

Cyndee wrote: "Does everyone have easy access to a wide variety despite the libraries being closed? I do so I sometimes forget that is a factor to consider."

Yep! I do. Thank goodness for KU. & a crap ton of books on my bookshelves that I haven’t read yet.💙

Cyndee wrote: "[[ Frankie ]] wrote: "Leslie wrote: "I love Thrillers, especially psychological thrillers and Historical Fiction too. I just focused on Romance authors as I figure for this challenge anything we ha..."

Woo! I can handle that! A lot of books have a romance MPG, but aren’t strictly romance, so that won’t be a problem... but having every single book be a MPG romance - that would scare me. LOL.

Cyndee wrote: "[[ Frankie ]] wrote: "Leslie wrote: "I love Thrillers, especially psychological thrillers and Historical Fiction too. I just focused on Romance authors as I figure for this challenge anything we ha..."

Oh...that's good to know. I that really opens it up for me.

Cyndee wrote: "Does everyone have easy access to a wide variety despite the libraries being closed? I do so I sometimes forget that is a factor to consider."

I have KU and our library has a good digital lending program (plus my own shelves of books I haven't read yet) so I should be good as well.

Challenge starts tomorrow... yay! Can’t wait to see what our first task will be.

Cyndee wrote: "Definitely a great idea Leslie! Not too intense at all. We could probably save DAYS over the course of the 8 weeks by hammering out these details now.

Here's my thoughts/opinions on the ones you p..."

I like all of your suggestions listed above.
1 - Colleen Hoover
9 - Suspense (or maybe Psychological Thriller)
25 - Anybody reading any good series? (that might be easy to find)
51 - If we pick a year, then we could all look for what month we have and find one that lines up ... so go with 2015?
52 - Either NYC or Chicago should be easy
56 - Blue
61 - What about James Patterson ... he has a good variety of genres and a lot of books!
65 - England or Italy are probably the easiest.

These are the other categories that we need to "decide"

57. Each teammate reads a book set in one of your teammates' home town, no pass for this task. I don't think there are any books set in my home town (Kelowna BC). Anybody live somewhere exciting??

66. As a team, pick a list with over 100 romance books on it, each member reads a book from that list. No pass for this task. How about ... Best Book Boyfriends Over 9,000 books on this list.

69. Read over 750 pages in books about the same profession, teams decide which profession. What about lawyer? Athelete? Military?

73. Read 6 books published in the year one of the teammates joined RRRC, teams decide which teammate. I joined just in 2019... You guys?

75. Read 6 books that have the same romance trope, teams decide which trope. friends to lovers? enemies to lovers? fake romance?

For 51 - If we pick a year, then we could all look for what month we have and find one that lines up ... so go with 2015?, would something even more recent like 2017 or 2018 be better?

My hometown is Columbus, OH. Some decent choices there since it's a capital city:
https://www.mappit.net/bookmap/places...
OR
https://www.goodreads.com/places/1697...

but Frankie or Anna may be better.

Your list for #66 is an awesome choice!

69. Read over 750 pages in books about the same profession, teams decide which profession. What about lawyer? Athelete? Military? - Ooooo...athlete would be my first choice but lawyer works great too!

73. Read 6 books published in the year one of the teammates joined RRRC, teams decide which teammate. I joined in 2017

75. Read 6 books that have the same romance trope, teams decide which trope. I love them all!

[[ Frankie ]] wrote: "Challenge starts tomorrow... yay! Can’t wait to see what our first task will be."

Tuesday, darlin'. Signups close tomorrow. ;P

Though if all players are checked in soon she may give us our first task early. :D

Cyndee wrote: "Though if all players are checked in soon she may give us our first task early. :D"

Fingers crossed :)

Athlete wouldn’t be my first choice for profession, but I could go with lawyer. Police officer or detective would be my top choice, though.

Cyndee wrote: "[[ Frankie ]] wrote: "Challenge starts tomorrow... yay! Can’t wait to see what our first task will be."

Tuesday, darlin'. Signups close tomorrow. ;P"

Oops, sorry! I keep looking at the bold text she’s posted at the top of each post:

The Amazing Race Team Challenge
April 11, 2020 through June 9, 2020
8 Week Dash For the Win!

It’s throwing me off, sorry. LOL.