The Lost Challenges discussion

✔Steph Ann
✔Angie ~aka Reading Machine~ ~ Captain
✔Amanda A
✔Lauren
✔Arshiya

Game Spreadsheet
Team Spreadsheet

Hi, team!

I can't wait to get started! I couldn't play the last round because I was pregnant and near my due date. Now that I've figured out how to make time to read while having a 5 month old, I'm excited for the challenge to start!

Do we have any volunteers for captain?

Hi team!

I'm Arshiya. I live in India and I'm currently in college. I love reading books and I mostly read YA, fantasy, romance or any combination of these. :)

I don't think I could be a good captain - too lazy and forgetful :P
Right now I'm happy to just be a part of the team ^_^

Hi Steph Ann! *waves*
Looks like we are the first ones here. :D
Congrats on your baby! Is it a boy or a girl? :)

Arshiya wrote: "Hi Steph Ann! *waves*
Looks like we are the first ones here. :D
Congrats on your baby! Is it a boy or a girl? :)"

Hi, Arshiya!

He's a beautiful baby boy who is fast outgrowing all of his clothes lol. Luckily, my nephew is exactly a year older, so we're getting a lot of hand me downs from my sister.

Hey teamies!

Congrats on the new addition to the family, Steph Ann!

I'm on team purple in another challenge (Dance Party) as well . What are the odds?

I'd prefer not to be captain because I'm already captaining the Dance Party one and doing two at the same time would be a bit much.

Hi team! Congrats Steph Ann on your little boy! I'll be captain. Ideas for team names?

Here's what I've come up with as far as possible names goes:

Names related to Purple:

Purple People Eaters
Purple Rain

Names from Random Name Generator:

Ice Tornadoes
Fighting Crushers
Militant Mafia
Smokin Secret Agents
Cyborg Fireballs

Hi everyone! Looking forward to this round! I am not very creative when it comes to team names but I will try to think of some suggestions.

Some more team name possibilities:

Lavender Ladies
Violet Valkyries
Mauve Marauders
Purple Pizzazz!

I like Violet Valkyries and Purple Pizzazz! :)

I like Violet Valkyries!

Should we also figure out whether we're going to coordinate which items to claim each week?

I've done it that way before, and then I've also done where we each just claim whatever we want for the first few weeks and start coordinating later in the game. I'm fine with whatever method works best for everybody else.

I choose the hardest Items on my own. I'll go with what the team decides with coordinating items. Also can we vote on team name? I'm also working on spreadsheet for the team. I'll have it ready by Thursday.

I like Violet Valkyries too! And I have done the item coordination both ways before and I am fine with either way.

I like Violey Valkyries too. :)
As for the coordinating, I haven't played this before so I don't the best way to go about this. Which is better?

My vote's for Violet Valkyries! :)

@Arshiya - there are pros and cons to both ways. Coordinating items tends to rack up points faster, but it can be more difficult to find a book that includes all the items the team wants to claim plus the bonus item. Each individual choosing their own items makes finding a book easier, but we get points at a slower pace.

I like Violet Valkyries too.

I've also done the item selection both ways and either is fine with me. Perhaps we should start out with each one of us choosing whatever we want and see how it goes. We can always decide to coordinate later.

Lauren wrote: "I like Violet Valkyries too.

I've also done the item selection both ways and either is fine with me. Perhaps we should start out with each one of us choosing whatever we want and see how it goes...."

That sounds like a good plan to me, Lauren. :)

Our Team Spreadsheet

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

I put a link to your team spreadsheet in post #2

Angie ~aka Reading Machine~ wrote: "Our Team Spreadsheet

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

Looks fantastic, Angie. Thanks.

Jennifer ♔Princess Penguin♔ wrote: "I put a link to your team spreadsheet in post #2"

Thanks Jennifer. Looks like we are all set to go.

Anyone have a book all picked out or are you waiting for the words to be called?

Jennifer ♔Princess Penguin♔ wrote: "I put a link to your team spreadsheet in post #2"

You're a doll. Thank you!

I'm gonna test out two books for words.

I'm a bit OCD, so I put together a spreadsheet containing a list of books and what items can be found in each one. Half the time, I end up picking a random book anyway, but the spreadsheet is nice to have on hand just in case lol.

I've a few books ready but I'm going to wait for the item to be called before searching for other items.
Just to get it straight, we can claim 4 items(including the week's announced item) + 1 bonus item that's announced that week. And all these item should be from 1 book right?
And as soon as all the members read a book for a particular item we get a point? I'm I right?
Also the bonus item can only be read in that week by all members to get the 1 point for it.
So I'm guessing our priority should be the week's item and the bonus item. Did I get it all right?

You got it, Arshiya.

Week 1

Color ~ Blue
Bonus ~ Flame

Week 1



Color ~ Blue
People ~ Mother
Places ~ Building
Things ~ Coat

Bonus ~ Flame

I found a book with both Blue and Flame. It has a lit of the others words too. I need to decide which I'm going to use. Any ideas?

You could see if the ones I chose are in it. That might narrow it down.

I used Random.org to choose mine.

Yep. I have those. I would have to use Jacket instead of coat though.

And I just checked. It has all the People words, all the Thing words (except glasses) and all the Places too (except for the country noun. I need to read it to check if stumble upon something for that). :D

I'm going with . I'll be claiming blue, flame, mother, building and coat as well.

Week 1: Blue
Bonus: Flame

Finished: 2/14/15
Rating: ★★★★
I enjoyed this first installment in the Cousins O'Dwyer trilogy. This book seemed to focus more on the magic than the romance for a Nora Roberts story but it was still good. I loved the Ireland setting and I was captivated by the secondary characters. I really liked how Branna and Connor welcomed Iona into their family so easily. I will continue with the trilogy and look forward to seeing what happens next.

Mother: "She'd left her mother mildly annoyed." ~ Page 38
Building: "The minute she turned into the clearing, saw the building, the nerves dropped away." ~ Page 67
Coat: "She left her muddy boots by the door, hung her coat on the peg." ~ Page 43
Blue & Flame: "From the copper sign she wore burst a blue flame, straight and sharp as an arrow." ~ Page 23

Amanda, you are the first review in!

Yay, Amanda!

Week #1: Blue & Flame


Finished: February 15th, 2015
Rating: 3 Stars

Review: A wonderful premise and solid writing, but the story contains themes that are simply not my cup of tea.

To begin with, I’m not fond of heroines who have had a child with a man other than the hero. For me, it undermines the romance and emotional connection between the characters. That said, Gareth’s interactions with baby Charlotte are sweet and endearing.

Second, Gareth is a definite beta hero and initially comes across as childish and irresponsible. While, he does mature as the story progresses, the damage is done and he never quite manages to fulfill his potential.

Finally, although Juliet is a strong and admirable heroine, the fact that she is in love with the hero’s brother at the outset of the story puts a damper on their chemistry. Yes, she grows to love Gareth but the specter of Charles is always there in the background.

The secondary characters are interesting, especially Lucien who is the alpha hero that Gareth is not. I have a thing for the staid, stuffy and repressed hero who needs to find the perfect woman to bring him to his knees. Thus, despite my personal problems with this particular story, I will probably continue with the series sometime.

Color ~ Blue: "sudden tears filled her pretty blue eyes" (Kindle Loc 785)
People ~ Mother: "another young mother clung to her two terrified children" (Kindle Loc 105)
Places ~ Building: "From somewhere inside the building, Gareth heard the tinkle of feminine laughter." (Kindle Loc 2486)
Things ~ Coat: "Someone, please give me a coat" (Kindle Loc 218)

Bonus ~ Flame: "Tongues of flame cracked fromt he highwaymen's pistols (Kindle Loc 181)

Week 1:Blue and Flame
by B.R. Kingsolver
Finished:2/15/15
Rating:4 Stars
Review:Ashley Coughlin has always dreamed of traveling the world and nothing will change that dream. Ashley is college grad with a degree in Hospitality. Ashley's love life leaves much to be desired. She meets two men that both liars and cheats. Yet she feels that she's not worthy of love at the same time. Will she achieve her dream? Your answers await you in Ashley's Dream

People~Mother:I called mom next and gave her the news. Page 9
Places~Building:He took me to the administrative offices in the low building connected to the back of the hotel. Page 255
Things~Coat:She also offered to loan me one of her coats. Page 109
Bonus~Flame:Her face turned flame red. Page 71

I should have my book finished tonight! :)

Week 1: Blue and Flame



Read: 2/16/15
Rating: 3 stars

Review

On the bright side, this was better than the first book, which I gave 1.5 stars. I really didn't intend on reading this one, but I review books for the Dark Faerie Tales website, and I have the last book in this series to review, and I hate feeling confused when reading a book, so here I am. I'm still not really loving any of the characters. Cicely does a whole lot of "not thinking before acting," and that really gets on my nerves. I'm also still not feeling the connection between her and Grieve, and being told countless times how they're soulmates does not make me a believer. On the other hand, this book had a lot of action that kept the plot going, and there were some developments toward the end that have me fairly interested to see what happens next. So, this gets a very lukewarm 3 stars from me. Hopefully, things will improve from here.

Items

Blue: ...pale blue with faint tendrils of sunlight... Page 52

Bonus - Flame: "Flame to flame, bolt to bolt, fire to fire, jolt to jolt." Page 19

Mother: Heather, her mother, used to call us... Page 21

Building: She must avoid flying into buildings or other stationary objects. Page 55

Coat: ...with a plaid, button-down shirt, and a camel wool coat. Page 21

I'm done with my book too but I don't think I can get my review in until tomorrow this time. I'll post it as soon as possible though :)

Week 1: Blue and Flame



Read: Feb 17
Rating: 2 stars
Review: The story could have been much more interesting if it had been written a little better. I felt like there were a lot of loopholes and it didn't make sense to me. At one point, the MC just says that she had already figured out that a character was Fae, like it was a given but it wasn't apparent until she mentioned it so flatly. I just kept thinking He is?!
Also she believed her mom so easily when she said she was cursed to follow every tale. She took it all in stride, all the ridiculous stories but at something equally ridiculuos she suddenly says "That doesn't sound real. It sounds made up". I was like - Really? Like all the stuff before sounded real? *eyeroll*

I may or may not read the next in series for this one. Not at all curious what happens next :/

Items:

Blue: Mina penned the jubilant words into her blue spiral notebook.... - Loc 52

Flame: Your world drew them like moths to flame - Loc 2018

Building: ....and later moved it into a rented building in the international district... - Loc 198

Mother: Her mother, Sara, said that she was harder to wake up than Sleeping Beauty. - Loc 76

Coat: ......even more so in their drab white coats, shower caps..... - Loc 217

Spreadsheet is updated and Great job on getting reviews in before Friday deadline.

Great job, everyone! :)

One week down and 5 points in :D

What's the strategy for the coming weeks? I think we should go with the coordination plan.

Also since the new item will be announced in.....a few hours(12 maybe?) should I hold off on starting any new books till then? I think I read somewhere in the rules that books must be started after the item is announced but I'm not sure

I think the items get announced in about 3 hours time

Yes, you must wait to start your book until after the items are called which is at 12pm EST (which is about 2 and a half hours away)

Thanks Jen and Lauren! :)