Chapter Adventure Reading Challenges (Formerly GXO) discussion

The Key Words for October are:

Vampire, Here, Mist, Death, One, Missing, Bite, Witch⁠

Share with us! Which key word did you pick? What book did you read and what did you think of the book(s)?

I read Downward "Death' by Stella Bixby. A little bit mystery, a little bit paranormal, and a lot of feel good in this small town read.

Just finished this and really like it - told in short story vignettes and based on fairy tales. Nice and spooky for the season. Beautifully written

Greymist Fair by Francesca Zappia

Chose "witch" - read How To Hang A Witch by Adriana Mather

Challenge complete!
Key word: One

I just finished One Year Gone by Avery Bishop. It was an okay read, once I got used to the constantly switching perspectives and timeline. Slow going at first, it built momentum in the second half, with a twist that left me feeling a little cheated. I was absolutely livid with the people who turned out to be the villains - their appalling reasoning for doing what they did drove me up the wall and even more so their whiny pity party.

I did two keywords this month!

Keyword: Vampire
Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer Volume 3: Of Wood and Blood Part 1 It was fun and a great ending to the series, highly recommend if you like Pinocchio and spooky stuff!

Keyword: Witch
Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 1
I honestly didn't love this, but I know a ton of people usually do so it must be a me problem!

I read The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna. It was a good book! It was very relaxing with one of my favorite tropes - found family ☺️

Cheryl wrote: "I read The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna. It was a good book! It was very relaxing with one of my favorite tropes - found family ☺️"

I loved that one! I'm finding I really enjoy the cozy fantasy genre.

Key Word:
One

Book:
One Pucking Wish by Ellie Wade

Thoughts:
It was okay to me. I throughly enjoyed the first half of the book, but then the main characters got together in the middle, leaving the second half to drag on. It was an enemies to lovers book, so I wish the book focused more on the enemies part and the build up, and less on the repetitive filler chapters towards the end. 3 stars

One Jar of Magic - Corey Ann Haydu

This was quite a bit darker and more poignant than I was expecting. And while I’m sure it would speak to young girls struggling with broken families, and trying to fit into a world that’s is impossible for them to fit in to, I
also think that this is well enough written that it’s a suitable read for any age. I certainly wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this to adult readers.

Challenge Complete: Keyword Here

Here be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman

Only her second book (the first being the quintessential Ricardian novel, The Sunne in Splendour,) the reader would be hard pressed to know that. The writing is superb as she brings the characters to life, many of which I knew next to nothing about.

The book covers both Joanna’s and Llewelyn’s lives, from childhood until almost the end. And though it comes in at slightly over 700 pages, the story never drags as the reader is swept into their world of divided loyalties and betrayals. Not once did I feel the need to skip ahead. There isn’t a dull moment.

And while Joanna and Llewelyn take center stage, there are plenty of other characters who become just as real. Joanna’s father, John, especially, is written here as I’ve never read before. While there is a cruel, almost evil, side to the man, he’s also shown to be a loving father, and, usually not noted, a man who had more concern for the people of England than his brother, Richard (the so-called Lionheart,) ever did.

There are also those who were friend, or foe, to the couple, as well as the children they had together and those Llewelyn had with other women. His oldest son, especially, will be a thorn in the couple’s side. While these characters are based on actual people, a few aren’t. But they add so much to the story, that one can understand why they were created. They fill an area left empty by the capriciousness of historical records. One event I was certain the author had made up; she hadn’t.

The book is historical fiction at its finest, and I highly recommend any of Penman’s books. We lost her much too early.

Keyword: One
Book: One Step Too Far by Lisa Gardner

The second book in the Frankie Elkin series. Frankie specializes in finding missing people that others have given up on. In this case she is asked to help someone a father that has been looking for his missing adult son, who disappeared the night before his wedding while camping with his buddies. At some point almost everyone is suspect, but the story ravels and unravels reasons behind each character. A good read, will check on her future stories!

The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz

This is the second book in the Hawthorne & Horowitz series. I really like this series - but I highly recommend it as an audiobook Rory Kinnear does an amazing job.

The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz

This is the second book in the Hawthorne & Horowitz series. I really like this series - but I highly recommend it as an audiobook Rory Kinnear does an amazing job.

• What Moves the Dead - T. Kingfisher
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...

This is a fantastical retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher (which I haven’t read, but immediately ordered upon finishing this book). There are scenes peppered throughout that induce the most delightful sense of a creeping terror in the reader. That is, assuming the reader enjoys creeping terror, which I undeniably do. This book is perfectly suited for spooky season, and at under 200 pages, is great for anyone that’s looking to beef up their reading numbers, or squeeze in a few more spooky reads before the season is over. The second book, What Feasts at Night, is also under 200 pages, so I’m going to be squeezing that one in as well.

Keyword: One
Book: Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty

It took a few chapters for me to get into this book, so not my favorite by Moriarty, but I did enjoy it in the end as I got more into it by the 2nd half.

Here are the books read in October with the following keywords: Vampire, Here, Mist, Death, One, Missing, Bite, Witch

Vampire- Vampires Never Get Old by Zoraida Córdova 3 stars; Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead 3 stars ; Filthy Rich Vampire by Geneva Lee 4 stars; The Vampire King; Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunger by Seth Grahame-Smith 4 stars; The Last American Vampire by Seth Grahame-Smith 4 stars


Here- Still Here by Amy Stuart 4 stars; Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty 3 stars


Mist- The City of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafón; Teeth in the Mist by Dawn Kurtagich; Whispers in the Mist by Darcy Coates


Death- Circle of Death by James Patterson 3 stars; An Easy Death by Charlaine Harris 3 stars; Amy Stuart 3 stars


One- One Hit Wonder by Lisa Jewell by 3 stars; Under One Roof by Ali Hazelwood 4 stars; One by One by Freida McFadden 3 stars; One of the Girls by Lucy Clarke 4 stars; Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty 3 stars; No One can Know; One of the Good Guys by Araminta Hall 3 stars; The Ones that Got away by Stephen Graham Jones 3 stars; The One in My Heart by Sherry Thomas 3 stars; The Nameless One by John Connolly 3 stars; The One Hundred Years by Marianne Cronin 4 stars; One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware 4 stars; One Step Too Far by Lisa Gardner 5 stars; The One by John Marrs 4 stars; The Last One at the Wedding by Jason Rekulak 4 stars; The Twisted Ones by Ana Huang 4 stars


Missing- Missing Persons by James Patterson; Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng 3 stars; The President is Missing by Bill Clinton 4 stars; The Moores are Missing by James Patterson; My Wife is Missing by D.J. Palmer; The Case of the Missing Lady by Agatha Christie 3 stars; The Case of the Missing Will by Agatha Christie 3 stars


Bite- Bite Me by Ally Hilfiger 4 stars; Bite by Laurell K. Hamilton 3 stars


Witch- The Witch in the Well by Camilla Bruce 3 stars; The Midnight Witch by Paula Brackston 2 stars; The Silver Witch by Paula Brackston 2 stars; Sea Witch by Sarah Henning 3 stars; Sea Witch Rising by Sarah Henning 3 stars; The Witch and the Tsar by Olesya Salnikova Gilmore 3 stars; Island Witch by Amanda Jayatissa 3 stars; The Age of Witches by Louisa Morgan 4 stars; The Secret History of Witches by Louisa Morgan 3 stars


Read in November:
After Death by Dean Koontz 2 stars; One Good Deed by David Baldacci 3 stars; Classic Vampire Short Stories by Rudyard Kipling 3 stars; The Witch's Kind by Louisa Morgan 3 stars; Witch of Wild Things by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland 3 stars; My Roommate is a Vampire and My Vampire Plus-One by Jenna Levine both 4 stars

I read 'The Witch of Willow Hall' by Hester Fox

1) One Year After You- Shari Low
2) Local Woman Missing- Mary Kubica
3) Witch Way To Murder & Mayhem- Jane Hinchey

Challenge complete!

Key word: one
Book: Target One by Jack Mars

Key word: death
Book: A Death of No Importance by Mariah Fredericks