The Challenge Factory discussion

Team 1 - The One-stoppables

Captain:
Sha
Laila Jane
AliciaJ
Katelyn
LaurLa

Bonus Points:
Earned: 2
Used: 0

Helpful Links:

Dice Roll: https://www.random.org/dice/ (2 dice on Fridays, US Central Time)
R14 SS Post Your Spot
R14 SS Discussion Thread

Time Zone Converter: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldcloc...

ALTERNATE LIST:
**titles exclude leading articles (a, an, the)

2. Published between 1950 and 1999
3. Title 'L'
4. Several authors
5. Cover: Green
6. Author 'Y'
7. Science Fiction
8. Title 'N'
9. Cover Item: Building
10. Author 'L'
11. Cover: Orange
12. Published 2020
13. Book with a funeral in it
14. New to You Author
15. MC travels by airplane
16. Title 'G'
17. MC has at least one child
18. Young Adult/New Adult
19. Europe
20. Author 'M'
21. Cover Item: Umbrella/Parasol
22. Non-Fiction
23. Number in the Title (Third Grave Dead Ahead or Every Fifteen Minutes)
24. Set on an island
25. Book to Movie/TV (must state how book qualifies: listopia, imdb, precis)
26. Africa
27. Title 'T'
28. Cover Item: Hands/Arms/Feet/Legs (no other body parts visible)
29. Author 'O'
30. Romance
31. Title 'Z'
32. Mystery/Thriller
33. Cover Item: Water
34. GR average rating >4.0
35. Set sometime before 1600 AD
36. MC is older than 60
37. Cover: Pink
38. Published 2001-2010
39. Set in a Fictional Location/Universe
40. Title 'E'
41. Cover: Black
42. Cover Item: Furniture
43. Published before 1950
44. Author 'D'
45. Cover Item: Mode of Transportation
46. Author 'H'
47. Title has a subtitle
48. Cover Item: Lamp/Candle
49. School/College/University
50. Author 'W'
51. Cover: Red
52. Award Winner (must state which/when)
53. South America
54. Cover Item: Dress
55. Cover: Brown
56. Re-read
57. Seasonal Theme (i.e Christmas, Halloween etc)
58. Author 'B'
59. Three Word Title (excludes articles like A, An, The) Behind Closed Doors or Etched in Bone
60. Published 2022
61. Set in a place you've visited
62. Cover Item: One person
63. Author 'R'
64. Title 'C'
65. Cover Item: Food/Drink
66. LGBTQ+
67. Cover: Blue
68. Author 'I'
69. Oceania
70. Four or More Words Title (excluding articles like A, An, The) The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet or Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
71. Favorite Author
72. Cover: Purple
73. Fantasy
74. Author 'F'
75. Title 'G'
76. Set in the future
77. Published 2011-2015
78. Cover Item: Weapon
79. Set anytime between 1600-1837
80. Published 2021
81. Cover: White
82. Cover Item: Sun/Moon
83. Author 'P'
84. Author uses their middle name/initial (e.g. Robert J. Sawyer, Rita Mae Brown)
85. Cover Item: Hat/Helmet/Other Headwear
86. Title 'J'
87. Originally published in a language other than English
88. Two Word Title (excluding articles like A, An, The) Deadly Silence, The Hunger Games
89. Cover Item: Book
90. Set anytime between 1837-1901
91. Asia
92. MC is in their 20's
93. Title 'V'
94. Cover Item: Animal
95. Book that a teammate rated 5 stars
96. Less than 100 ratings
97. Published the year you were born
98. Cover: Yellow/Gold
99. Author uses a pseudonym
100. Author 'S'
101. Title 'B'
102. North America
103. Debut Novel or Debut Author
104. Book with a wedding in it
105. Cover Item: Jewelry
106. MC has a pet
107. Set in space
108. Published 2016-2019
109. One Word Title (excluding articles like A, An, The) The Witness or Divergent
110. Title 'F'
111. MC travels by train
112. Cover Item: Two or more people

A couple of things to keep in mind:

✸ Communication is key. Please make sure to check in regularly with your team.

✸ Let your team know if it looks like you won't get your review posted by Thursday, 11:59pm. You do have all of Friday to submit your review, but it can be intensely frustrating for your captain if they don't know when or if they can expect your review before the deadline.

✸ If you know beforehand that you won't be able to read and review a book during a certain week, you can request a pre-arranged absence from me, either by posting the request in the discussion thread or by sending me a pm. The request has to be submitted before the team rolls for the week in question, can only be approved by me as the mod in charge of running the game, and has to state a reason for the absence. (Reasons for pre-arranged absences can include e.g. going on vacation or work trips, planned hospital stays, exam period, etc.)

✸ If you do not have a pre-arranged absence and won't be able to finish your book in time for an unforeseen reason, please let your team know as soon as possible. If the team has earned the free pass, it can be used to cover the missing review. Without a free pass, the team has to sit out the next roll.

✸ We all know that real life gets in the way sometimes, be it through family emergencies, work emergencies, natural disasters, technical problems making it impossible to get online, or in other ways. That being said, please do keep in mind that this is a team challenge and your team relies on you to do your part unless an emergency occurs.

✸ If you find that the pressure of keeping up with the pace of the game gets too much for you or you wish to stop playing for any other reason, you can drop out of the challenge at any time. In that case, please let your team captain and/or me know that you wish to drop out rather than just disappearing without a word so your team won't be penalized when you fail to turn in your review. Thank you!


Captain's Handbook

✸ The team's captain is its chief organizer. This includes rolling the dice, posting the team's new spot to the team thread and the Post Your Spot thread, collecting links to team members' review posts in a single post to be linked in the Post Your Spot thread, doublechecking that books and review posts comply with requirements, reminding team members to post their reviews in time if necessary, etc.

✸ The captain may delegate some tasks, such as rolling and posting the new spot to the team thread, to another team member if they so choose. (Either a designated roller who fulfills this role every week, or whichever team member is online first once rolling is possible.) Collecting reviews into a single post and posting to the Post Your Spot thread should always be handled by the captain.

✸ Instead of having everything handled by a single team captain, teams can also choose two co-captains to handle the workload.

✸ Selection posts are not strictly required by the game's rules and I won't be checking for them. It's up to the team captain to decide whether they want them.

✸ If the team captain requests a pre-arranged absence, it's their responsibility to arrange for another team member to step in as temporary captain.

✸ The team captain is my primary point of contact for the team and should allow receiving private messages.

Hi everyone! Just checking in

Hello everyone!

Nice to see you Sha! I think we've done this one together before 😁

hi everyone! so happy to be competing with you all 🫶🏼🫶🏼

any volunteers for team captain?

I don’t mind being captain if no one else wants to do it. My only problem is I work night shifts starting at 7pm and I work every other Friday, so if we have a late check in I might need help checking our team in for the week

that works for me! i’ve done it in the past so if we’re checking in late on a day you work i can do the post and roll

Thanks Katelyn!

@Laila

We did! But I had to quit partway through and I'm sorry about that. :(

But it should be fine this time! I have settled in and I have a reading plan. :D

But it's probably still better for me to be a regular member so I'm glad the captaincy has been sorted out.

Anyone planning to do all series or all alternates for the free passes? I'm going to try for all series, unless the mood reading curse hits me particularly hard.

Hi everyone, this is my first time playing so any tips on how to plan out my reading are more than welcome! lol

Hi all! I'm a bit late checking in... sorry about that! I'm glad we have captain volunteers - THANK-YOU 🥰


I could try for the series bonus as well as the never picking an alternative task bonus.

Looking forward to getting started!

AliciaJ wrote: "Hi everyone, this is my first time playing so any tips on how to plan out my reading are more than welcome! lol"

It's kinda hard to plan since we're beholden to the dice roll. But you may want to take a look at your TBR and identify a couple of books you'd like to read for each digit 1-9, maybe even some in the teens if you have series that go that high, but we won't be in those for long. This way you can have books at the ready. Week to week you can kinda take a guess as to what the next roll might be, for instance if we're on 39... we're NOT going to land on 40 (so standalone is out) but it's quite likely we'll land on 40-something so you can be prepared with a #4 book.

I hope this helps some!

Here are our bonus tasks for reference:

✸ One point can be earned for reading three or more books in a series.
✓ One point can be earned for reading a book with >500 pages.
✸ One point can be earned for starting and finishing a series. There must be at least 4 books in that series. Series + spin-off totalling ≥4 books also counts. For series with >9 books, point will be awarded for reading books 1-9. For still ongoing series, all books published to date (OR up to #9 in longer series) must be read.~ No re-reads on this one.
✓ 2 in 1: One point can be earned for reading a book that fits both the series number and the alternate for the spot you are on.
✸ One point can be earned for never picking a book from the alternate list. This point is awarded when your team rolls past 90.
✸ One point can be earned for always picking a book from the alternate list. This point is awarded when your team rolls past 90.

Does anyone plan to read just from the alternate list? I tend to always stick to reading series books and never from the alternate, so it feels almost wrong reading just from the alternate list lol

LaurLa wrote: "AliciaJ wrote: "Hi everyone, this is my first time playing so any tips on how to plan out my reading are more than welcome! lol"

It's kinda hard to plan since we're beholden to the dice roll. But ..."

This is great LaurLa, thanks. I'm excited to start this one, it's always fun to play a brand new challenge 😊

I plan on reading entirely from the alternate list! I don’t read very many series :)

I'll probably do all series, it'll be a great way to get some of them off my tbr.

Week 1

Previous Spot: 0
Roll: 5 + 2
New Spot: 7

Books That Qualify
#7 in series
Alternate: Science Fiction

Completion Posts
Laila Jane - Marriage of Inconvenience (Knitting in the City #7) - Completion Post
Katelyn - The One (Alternate: Science Fiction) - Completion Post
Sha - The Long and Short of It (Alternate: Science Fiction) - Completion Post
AliciaJ - Making Waves (Franklin U #7) - Completion Post
LaurLa - Who Do You Love (Rock Royalty #7) - Completion Post

Bonus Earned: Laila Jane - Book with >500 pgs

Free Pass: Unearned
Bonus Points: 1/6

oh wow i never read science fiction!

So we each just need to read one book right? Do we need to make a selection post too?

Katelyn wrote: "oh wow i never read science fiction!"

Are you still planning to go for it? I don't read as much Sci-Fi as fantasy but if you are and have no options I can try to help narrow things down a little, if you want?

AliciaJ wrote: "So we each just need to read one book right? Do we need to make a selection post too?"

Yes, one book each per week.
It's up to Laila Jane whether she'd like selection posts from everyone. :)

I will probably read:


Who Do You Love


or

Fragments of Ash

I don't think we need selection posts, but if you'd like to make one feel free to!

Laila Jane wrote: "I don't think we need selection posts, but if you'd like to make one feel free to!"

Ok, thanks. I'm fine with not having a selection post , I'll just post the book itself like LaurLa.

(#7 Franklin U series)

Sounds good!

Do you all want a team name? These are all I could come up with:

The Clever Ones
The One-stoppables
You Can’t Put Us Down
Serial Ones

I like these:


The Clever Ones
The One-stoppables

I like The One-stoppables

I like The One-stoppables and Serial Ones

Looks like most of us like The One-stoppables, so I'll go tell Denise that's the one we'll go with

that’s a great name!

Does The Long and Short of It count as science fiction? It's a lot of genres.

Sha wrote: "Does The Long and Short of It count as science fiction? It's a lot of genres."

Sure!

Thanks for the clarification, Denise. :)

I’m reading The One by John Marrs and will be done by Thursday. How is everyone enjoying their reads? Mine is a lot darker than I expected.

I just started reading Marriage of Inconvenience today so I could use it for the Uno challenge as well. It's 500+ pgs so I won't have it done until Friday, but so far I am loving it!

Laila Jane wrote: "I just started reading Marriage of Inconvenience today so I could use it for the Uno challenge as well. It's 500+ pgs so I won't have it done until Friday, but so far I am loving it!"

Enjoy! I've read some of her books and really liked them. Hope this one is a good one for you 😊

Katelyn wrote: "I’m reading The One by John Marrs and will be done by Thursday. How is everyone enjoying their reads? Mine is a lot darker than I expected."

I liked my book, it was a nice romance. I'm going to post my review tomorrow.

Completion Post - Week 1
Spot #7 Science Fiction

The One by John Marrs
How it qualifies: Science Fiction
Pages: 418 pages
Completed: 2/1/23
Rating: ★★
Review: The One follows 5 different people who have met their DNA match and what ensues after. I thought this book was fine and some of the storylines were actually pretty interesting, but I found the way the author wrote about the serial killer character to be very distasteful. I didn't feel like justice was ever really served to the victims and didn't like Marrs' attempt to gain sympathy for the character. I felt like the other storylines were string at first but I found it interesting how they started to bleed together by the end.

Checking in - I'm working on my book Should be finished tonight.

Week 1
Spot & Prompt: #7, Science Fiction (Alternate)
Book: The Long and Short of It
Cover:
How it qualifies: Science Fiction
Pages: 462 pages
Completed: 2 Feb 2023
Rating: 4 stars

Review:

02 Feb 2023

A set of short (and not so short, but still not novel length) stories set in the St. Mary's Chronicles universe, featuring a number of familiar characters. The premise is "quirky and sometimes unhinged historians use time travel technology to go back to past eras and to research history." The premise is wonderful and has been for all the books in the series that I have read, the characters are so insane that they are consistently entertaining, the writing has made me laugh many times, and sometimes we even have a bit of emotional depth thrown in for good measure.

The short stories are more of exactly that. Mostly comedic farce, but with the occasional anchor of heartfelt emotions. It actually works really good in the short story format, possibly better than it does with the actual novel, where plot gets in the way of the farce.

Mini-reviews for the short stories:

When a Child is Born: Our primary chaos trio (Max, Peterson, and Markham; canonically known as the usual suspects) goes back in time to old Britain to observe some king or another, but end up getting caught in the snow and helping out an injured woodcutter and his very pregnant wife. Pretty cute, and I liked the questioning of assumptions done at the end.

Roman Holiday: The usual suspects +2 travel to ancient Rome to meet Cleopatra in Ceasar's house, and accidentally foil an assassination before escaping in fear of being framed for assassination. Again, pretty fun- I thought the romantic tragedy aspects were compelling- I'm rarely invested in the inner drama of the historical figures like I was in this one. Also, props for making Cleopatra both ugly and insanely attractive in spite of it.

Christmas Present: The title is a pun on multiple levels, which I appreciate. Probably the least farcial and most serious, because of the subject matter of two stranded historians having to be rescued after a decade of their disappearance and the tragedies of being moved out of time. The usual suspects do their usual thing and provide some levity to the story, which I appreciate.

Ships and Stings and Wedding Rings: A gun gets lost on a mission to Ancient Egypt, and the usual suspects have to tail their colleagues who lost the gun while staying out of sight in order to prevent paradoxes. Pretty fun, because it's the usual suspects, but the emotional core of the story revolved around the Max/Leon Farrell ship being wonderful and great etc when honestly it is meh at best and story-destroying at worst. I'm sorry, Leon 2.0, you may be better than your predecessor but you're still a sad sack lacking in any kind of charisma.

The Very First Damned Thing: Not the usual suspects for once, but a story set pre-series when the historical time travel research institute was formed. A lot grimmer than usual, because the narrator (focal character?) is different. Still pretty interesting when you see all the lore and how all the regulars came together, though. And I fall a little more in love with Dr. Foster every time I see her. (view spoiler)[Damn you, fridging. (hide spoiler)]

The Great St. Mary's Day Out: The Usual Suspects + 9 go on a recreational tour of 1600s London, specifically to see a Hamlet production at the Globe theater of the time. A farce again, and a pretty good one, with the party being split into three and each of them encountering their own issues (two offscreen). The quirks of the cast and the humor and absurdity shine in this one.

My Name is Markham: Another non-Max PoV, featuring Markham of the usual suspects going to old England to spy on a different king with the other usual suspects. Standard St. Mary's fare, with a lot of hints about how Markham's past was pretty rough. This could have been a bad thing but is not, mostly because Markham is a ridiculous and cheerful and that ends up making the character grounded. Pretty fun, even if the emotional thread may have been weaker because we know too little of Markham's past.

A Perfect Storm: The only story in the set without time travel. The cast have to welcome a tv exec on set and court him for funding, but is hampered by the general insanity of the employees and the need to keep the interesting bits (time travel) a secret. Nevertheless, they do provoke what one character describes as a miniature extinction event. Was pretty entertaining till the last few lines, where it got briefly (and wonderfully) hurt/comfort for a moment.

Completion Post🔹Week 1
Spot🔹7


Book🔹Who Do You Love
How it fits🔹#7 Rock Royalty
Date Read🔹02.02 ★★★★
Review
A different take on an mc main character. The hero is the son of an MC president but he is not part of the club because of 'reasons' but not his choice, so he feels lonely, on the outside and not quite part of his 'family'. The heroine has the same feelings due to her own situation, so this makes the two ripe for falling for each other and finding someplace to belong. But of course, the hero stubbornly doesn't want have all the feels until his heroine is in danger (because of his not quite mc status) and then he can't help himself. Fairly predictable story line but I always enjoy this author and she made the characters feel real and not just a cut out version of a standard trope. One more book to go in the series and I'll be a little sad to leave these folks.

Completion Post Week 1-Spot7


Book: Making Waves by Christina Lee
How it fits: #7 Franklin U
Date Read: 2/2
Rating: ★★★★
Review: This was a really sweet friends to lovers romance between two college students. Alex had a long-standing crush on his best friend's brother Remy, but his loyalty to his best friend kept him from pursuing anything. But eventually both Remy and Alex admit to their feelings and begin dating, but of course they keep it a secret from the brother. I did think that this part of the story was a bit clichéd, especially when the brother just happens to see them together and realizes that they've been keeping this huge secret from him. It was very formulaic, but the characters were still very engaging and kept me interested to the end. And of course, there was a wonderful happy ending that made it all worthwhile.

Completion Post
Week #1

Spot: 7

Marriage of Inconvenience by Penny Reid
Date Read: 02/03/23
Pages: 506
How It Fits: Book #7 in Knitting in the City series
Rating: 5 stars

Review: I have been looking forward to this book since I read the novella between book 1 and 2, when the couple featured in this story was first teased. It did not disappoint! This was my favorite book out of the whole series. I love that Dan and Kat's story was a marriage of convenience, because I just can't resist those. I love that they were a team from day one and always had each other's backs, no questions asked. And despite being in a marriage of convenience, their marraige was real to both of them. I also really enjoyed the return of all of the characters from the previous books in the series. I always love when that happens in a series, because you see what happens to the characters after their book ends. This was the last in the Knitting in the City series, which is always bittersweet. I'm going to miss this group of friends and their husbands and all the misadventures that they got into. I highly recommend for anyone who's into romance, friendship, humor, and slightly outlandish storylines.

Bonus Earned: Book is >500 pages