Second Chance Challenges discussion

This is the place to introduce yourself to the rest of the group. Tell us as much or as little about yourself as you are comfortable with.

Here are a few questions to get you started but please don't feel like you have to answer all of them and feel free to tell us whatever you'd like.

Where are you from?
What do you like to read?
What's your favorite kind of challenge?
Were you invited here by someone else?
What other groups do you love here on Goodreads?

I'll start off. I'm Cherie, a 33 year old SAHM of 2 boys from Connecticut. I've been a reader my entire life but a challenge addict for about 6 months now. I read a little bit of everything. I especially love fantasy and dystopia but I'll read anything from mystery to chick lit. I'm a moody reader so I don't really like to plan my reading list too far in advance. For this reason, I've found that I really like the Spell-It-Out challenges the best. They give much more leeway in choosing what to read.

I created this group because I love challenges and after looking through some of the other fantastic groups here I realized that I missed out on some really fun challenges because I just didn't know about them when they were going on. I joined the groups after they were finished. Sure, you can still complete a challenge even after the deadline but challenges are always more fun when you have someone else doing it with you, right? So I thought, wouldn't it be cool if there were a place where you could get a second chance at some of those challenges? And here we are! :)

I have a Nook Color (which I love!) and am always looking for more Nook friends. Feel free to add me: cherie.searles@gmail.com I also love GR friends so it's likely I'll accept if you send me a friend request. :)

Hi Cherie,
Thanks for the invitation. This sounds like a great idea. I am a 38 year old disabled SAHM, I have 3 boys at home aged almost 10, 3 and 1 and a daughter 11 who lives with her dad.
I have been an avid reader all my life, I used to spend all my spare time in the library and used to read 6 books a week as a child.
I have become addicted to challenges and have over 70 running at the moment some of which are past their deadline but I am continuing with them anyway.
I also prefer spell-it-out challenges as it easy to fit the books I get sent for review into. I am not a huge fan of the challenges where you have to make specific tasks fit as I tend to read what I like and then try and fit it in rather than looking for a specific book to fit.
I love crime, thriller, suspense, childrens, ya, dystopian, post-apocalyptic, fantasy, chic-lit (oh you may as well say everything lol)
I prefer p/back books but I am becoming fonder of my kindle. I would like another e-reader because my kindle is very basic, black and white and not a touch screen, I do not know which other device to go for though so suggestions would be welcome.
I love making new friends as I am almost housebound so please send friend requests.
I live in the UK.

I'm Barb, from south-central PA, where I work part-time at our local public library. I'm mom to a recent college grad -- who's come back home to live till she figures out what she wants to do with her life now -- and a 2nd LT in the US Air Force, who is getting married in about six weeks.

I've been a reader all my life; started out with mysteries, as that's all Mom had in the house. I've expanded my reading horizons a lot since then, but I still consider mysteries my 'comfort read.'

I like all kinds of challenges, but find the spell-it-out and cover match challenges easier to complete than those that are task-oriented. I don't know how many challenges I'll participate in here, but I'm sure I'll join in some now and then :)

Talia, my father-in-law lives in Quincy, IL. From your description, I'm guessing you're in that general vicinity? LOL

LOL Funny how that works out, isn't it? We were just out there about a year ago, but before that, it had been years since we'd visited. Hubby, a civil engineer, was mesmerized by the new bridge! :)

Thank you for the invite Cherie! That's a wonderful idea you are doing here for all of us, challenge addicts.

I'm Skandia, 42 , I'm originally from Estonia and now I share my time between California and Estonia. I'm married, have one child and I love to read. I read almost any genre there is but non-fiction. My job includes a lot of reading any kind of boring serious legal-business style materials, so for my free time I like a good light fiction reads.
I am a member of CCC, RRRC and SOS groups here in GR. I have also taken part of the SRC for last three seasons and that's a tough one, never finished and I think I never will.

I got Kindle Touch for my birthday last year and I love it! When I'm back at home , I can still read all the books I want and my luggage has been considerably lighter since then, which is a very good thing on long-haul flights :)

This is a great group : ) I am Teresa and got addicted to challeng when Southpaw invited me to her group. I have a whole lot here ready to go : )

Hi All!!! My name is Shelly, though most call me Shell or Shellbelle on GR's. I am a Moderator for several groups and I started up The Challenge Factory and I help Co-Mod it with a few other girls so I'm thinking I will see some familiar challenges on here!

Where are you from?
I'm currently living in Wichita, KS (and have lived here most of my life) but my Fiance has recently gotten a job in the Kansas City area so he's leaving now and my daughter and I will be following soon!

What do you like to read?
Hmmm, I'm not too picky but my favorites are PNR, Contemporary Romance and maybe a little Historical Romance...but I also love the classics, UF, Memoirs and Bio's...the list just goes on and on and on!


What's your favorite kind of challenge?
There is no favorite kind for me...I LOVE just finding the right book for the right category...it's as much fun as reading sometimes!!!


Were you invited here by someone else?
Cherie invited me! Thanks for the invite and for including The Challenge Factory!


What other groups do you love here on Goodreads?
I Mod for Reading Is My Escape (RIME), We Love Susan Mallery, and The Challenge Factory (TCF) those keep me pretty busy but I am members of other challenge groups too!

Shellbelle wrote: "I'm currently living in Wichita, KS (and have lived here most of my life) but my Fiance has recently gotten a job in the Kansas City area so he's leaving now and my daughter and I will be following soon!"

Wichita is such a nice place, but KC is great too -- at least it was 30-ish years ago :) We lived in Manhattan, KS, for three years while hubby was stationed at Ft. Riley. We ventured to Wichita a few times, but took many a trip to KC for ball games, shopping, etc.

It's nice to meet you, Shell!

Barb wrote: " Shellbelle wrote: "I'm currently living in Wichita, KS (and have lived here most of my life) but my Fiance has recently gotten a job in the Kansas City area so he's leaving now and my daughter an..."

There is def. more to do in the KC area than Wichita that's for sure! But in about a year we will actually be moving to Vegas so KC is just a pit stop along the way I guess! lol We have family in both KC and Vegas so that should make the moves easier:-) And I have had a couple of friends that went to school in Manhattan back in the day, lovely town!

Nice to meet you too Barb!

So you'll just have to make sure you take advantage of all that's unique to KC before you head off to Vegas! Hubby would have a blast exploring all the BBQ places in KC :)

Hi. I'm southpaw. I live just outside of Memphis.

I've always loved to read. Right now, my favorites are mysteries and historical fiction. I've always loved the romance genre though - both contemporary and historical.

My favorite type of challenge is the Spell-it-Out type. I don't know why, but I'm just crazy about those. The bigger, the better!

I was invited here by Cherie. Thank you for inviting me, Cherie.

I'm also a member of the Crazy Challenge Connection, Romance Readers Reading Challenges, The Lost Challenges, Nothing But Reading Challenges, My Big Fat Booky Challenge, as well as several other groups.

I am so excited to be a part of this group, and can't wait to get started on some of the challenges. I too, am a reading challenge addict.

Thank you again, Cherie, for inviting me to this wonderful group!

Shellbelle wrote: "I'm currently living in Wichita, KS (and have lived here most of my life) but my Fiance has recently gotten a job in the Kansas City area so he's leaving now and my daughter and I will be following soon!..."

I moved from KC almost 2 years ago, after living there for 14 years. It is still where most of my family and friends are so I vacation there all the time. If you need tips on places to go & things to do let me know.

Hey everyone! I am Dawn. I am currently a SAHM of a almost 10 year old girl and 3 year old boy. I used to read a lot in school but it slowed down alot for about 15 years. Then someone made me read twilight and it rekindled my love of reading and the paranormal. I became hooked on reading again. After our move and becoming a SAHM I got hooked on challenges. And I do mean hooked. Currently have over 70 going on and I am constantly thinking of things that would make a good challenge. I am so glad Cherie made this group and invited me to join in all the fun.


Where are you from? Well, I currently live in a small, small, small town in Colorado, just north of Denver. But I moved to the Denver area 2 years ago from Kansas City. I claim Kansas City as my home town. But growing up I lived in southern New Mexico. I've been around a bit.

What do you like to read? I like to read books with a happy ever after ending, and perferably with a paranormal twist. Paranormal Romance is my favorite, but historical and contemporary romance are up there too. I often read YA, but if it gets too whiny teen angst, I can't handle it. I dip into Urban Fantasy sometimes too but those tend to not always have a happy ending just drag out the main characters crazy life.

What's your favorite kind of challenge? My favorite is where you have to find something. Scavenger hunt or scattergories style. Next is challenges where you have to find a specific type of book.

What other groups do you love here on Goodreads? I am a mod for The Lost Challenges. but I spend a fair amount of time on SOS: Serious Overload of Series, Romance Readers Reading Challenges, The Challenge Factory, Romance Lovers for the Challenge-Impaired. I also like Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy, they only do a monthly challenge but it is always one of my favorites, I usually try to make my other reading challenges fit into thier one monthly challenge.

Welcome everyone! Thanks for joining!

Hey Everyone! I'm Angie, I am 28 and live in Alberta, Canada. I work casual as an LPN and the rest of the time I am running after my 18 month old, Jacob.

I mostly read Christian Fiction,(romance, historical, contemporary,suspense, speculative) but I also enjoy other genres as well. I'm really getting into the cozy mysteries for a nice change, and I also read a lot of classics.

I think my favourite type of challenge is probably the spell it out that have no time limit. =) But I do enjoy a good scavenger type challenge as well. Really I'm just addicted to them all! =) I am currently working on over 50!

Thanks for the invite Cherie!

I've recently became one of the co-mods over at Crazy Challenge Connection, I'm also a member of Christian Fiction Devourers, and The Lost Challenges. I spend way too much time on goodreads when I should be reading and finishing up challenges!

Looking forward to the group Cherie, I already know one challenge that I want to do, and I'll probably be kicking myself for it later, since it will take FOREVER! =)

Welcome Angie and Sarajayne! Thanks for introducing yourselves.

Angie, I had second thoughts about that challenge. I wondered if it was too much. Then in the end I said, Ah, why not? lol

SARAJAYNE SENT ME! LOL, I mean she invited me:) I'm so used to saying "ABZ" sent me on FB:)
I am an antique lifelong voracious reader; I've reviewed online off and on since April 2007; I'm an unpublished writer (encased in the Mausoleum of Writer's Block since Dec.). I read to live, breathe, eat, stay sane. Give me a book and I'm satisfied; without a book, I'm a lunatic.:) I'm also a Review Blogger since March 1, and a GR member since Jan. 1. GR is why I review.

Hi i'm Lizz and I am from Texas. It is very hot here. I read everything I get a holed of. I love spell out challenges and I can't wait to do more. Cherie invited here. I really like RRRC and PrN.

lol Mallory! Welcom to the group. Thanks for the intro Lizz.

Hi I'm Kari from Colorado. I am 23, recently graduated college and now have much more time on my hands for reading!! I love scavenger hunt type challenges, but I'm not huge ones that involve items being on the cover. I love to read YA, paranormal, and mysteries mostly. I do venture out into other categories frequently though and am working on the 1001 books to read before you die and cigurl reading lists.

I joined because of the status update Talia put up :) point for her!

Welcome Kari! There's a whole folder of scavenger hunts. I hope you find something you like! :)

Hey everyone, I'm Ashley! Thanks Cherie for putting this challenge together. :) I'm 27 and currently a stay at home wife. My husband is a 3rd year Medical School student who is doing rotations in various places in medicine for the next two years. His favorite specialty at the moment is Pediatrics. Anyway...

Where are you from?
I was born and raised in North Carolina. I attended Appalachian State University where I got my BS in History. In 2010, I married my husband, Ryan, and moved to Kirksville, Missouri for him to begin Medical School. This past June we moved to Carbondale, Illinois and so far we LOVE it! Now just to find me a job!

What do you like to read?
I will give any book a try but my favorite genres are: Historical fiction, Biographies, Romance, Mystery, and Young Adult

What kinds of challenges do you like?
I like the spell out challenges the best, but I'm usually up for any challenge, haha.

What other groups do you love here on Goodreads?
2012 Read Challenge group (I am one of the mods if you would like to join!)
Crazy Challenge Connection..I'm always joining challenges there, haha
Monthly Challenge Group..I haven't completed a full monthly challenge but my goal is to do that someday!

Welcome Ashley! Thanks for introducing yourself. Hope your job hunt goes well. :) My hubby has a job that he hates so he's been looking but there's just not much out there (in his field) right now.

Kim Justice has joined from my invite but not posted in here yet

Hey I'm Rachael I love challenges! I'm a SAHM of an active 3 year old and sometimes he let's me read! I'm from Suffolk in the UK. I read Urban Fantasy, murder mystery, paranormal and crime books. I like any sort of challenge especially spell it outs. I'm a mod at Urban Fantasy Aficionardos and Paranormal Kickass chicks come and check us out if you want! And Sarajayne invited me to join!

Hi, I'm Christine. I've been celebrating the ninth anniversary of my 30th birthday for a few months now. I have a wonderful husband, three energetic sons (ages 9, 7, and 4), and a full-time job in a research science lab. When I should be housecleaning or doing laundry, I'm usually reading instead.


Where are you from? I currently live in Maryland, but I grew up in Pennsylvania.

What do you like to read? For the past few years I've been addicted to urban fantasy and paranormal romance. But I also love mysteries, some thrillers, and romance, as well as some non-fiction.

What's your favorite kind of challenge? That's almost like asking which is my favorite child! I don't think I can pick one, plus it really depends on my mood on any given day.

Were you invited here by someone else? Sarajayne invited me. Thanks, Sara!

What other groups do you love here on Goodreads?
Let's see....Serious Overload of Series, Crazy Challenge Connection, Romance Readers Reading Challenges (love their PIFM challenge even though I haven't participated in a few months), Gotta Have Paranormal Romance With a Kick, The Challenge Factory, Nothing But Reading Challenges, The Lost Challenges, Urban Fantasy

Welcome Rachael and Christine! Thanks for joining us!

Hi Alan! Welcome to the group! There's quite a variety of challenges here so I hope you find something you'll like. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask!

Hi everyone I'm Hettie

Where are you from?
I'm from Hampshire in England.

What do you like to read?
I will read anything that looks interesting. My favorite genres are fantasy, sci-fi and cozy mysteries.

What's your favorite kind of challenge?
I love most types of challenges but especially scavenger hunts. The incredibly long and won;t be finished for years challenges also have a habit of drawing me in!

Were you invited here by someone else?
I'll blame Barb for this as it was her comments on my homepage that made me come and investigate the group!

What other groups do you love here on Goodreads?
The first groups I got involved with was the Seasonal Reading Challenge. I still love the group but I got a bit frustrated with never being able to complete it. I stumbled on the Crazy Challenge Connection and got hooked.

Hello everyone! My name is Nathaly and I'm very happy I was invited to this group because it looks like i'm falling behind on my current challenges.

Where are you from? Franklin Park, IL

What do you like to read? Anything that's good. I'm open to anything

What's your favorite kind of challenge? Timed challenges. I prefer monthly a quarterly challenges.

Were you invited here by someone else? Sarajayne. Thanks Sara!

Hi everyone! I'm Chaitra. I'm an SAHM, but so far only to a cat. :D I live in CT and read all day while the cat snores. I was doing my daily read-through of posts on Crazy Challenge Connection and came across Cherie's post about this group - so of course I had to join. Looking forward to adding on more challenges!

Hi Hettie, I'm glad you found your way here! Check out the Scavenger Hunt folder and the (Never Ending) Ben & Jerry's Challenge.

Welcome Nathaly! Welcome Chaitra! I'm glad you saw my post. :)

Hi I'm Pat originally from Chicago and I live in the Atlanta area. I read an insane amount of books and as a child my mother used to take them away and make me watch tv as punishment. I won't leave home without my reader and my favorite genre is PNR. I see some old friends and hopefully some new ones.

Thanks for inviting me Rachael.

Hi Pat! Welcome to the group. We're happy to have you!

Hi all, I'm Melanie. Sarajayne invited me to join in the fun. I'm a full time library-type-person in New Orleans, with far far far too many books on my to-read list. Which would be why I love challenges so much! It's a great way to cut through some of the backlog. I don't know if I really have a favorite type of challenge, but my least favorite is probably the cover challenges (you know, find a book with a cover with stars on it) - there isn't an easy way to search for those, so I end up going through my entire list one book at a time.

I'm not in too many other groups - Sword and Laser (sci fi), Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy Fanatics, 2012 Read Challenge, Young Adult Reads, and the Vaginal Fantasy Hangout. I've also got a book club I started with some of my work friends.

I read almost everything - I usually pick out books by their covers and synopsis. Which may be why I've been reading so many young adult novels recently.....

Welcome Melanie! I'm right there with you about the covers. I know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover but I just can't seem to help myself! :)

Vaginal Fantasy Hangout?! I think I might just have to check that one out and see what it's all about. lol

Hello, everyone! :) I'm Bree...I'm 31 and I live in Alberta, Canada. I currently work as a lab analyst...and I also work casual as a bank teller (lol...worlds apart, huh?).

I read pretty much anything except paranormal and the classics (school did me in on those...). My favorite genres are probably YA and contemporary fiction, but I tend to jump around a lot in genres. I'm also a notorious "judge a book by it's cover" type of person, lol!

I've belonged to quite a few groups over the years here on GoodReads, but currently I'm mostly just active in Crazy Challenge Connection. My favorite types of challenges are ones that mix it up a bit - a little spell-it-out, some scavenger hunt...I'm actually not picky, lol! If I figure it's feasible, I will join in. I have a harder time with 1-month deadlines since I try to plan out early what I'll read...but it doesn't stop me from trying easier ones, lol!

Dawn (Kat N Hat) wrote: " Shellbelle wrote: "I'm currently living in Wichita, KS (and have lived here most of my life) but my Fiance has recently gotten a job in the Kansas City area so he's leaving now and my daughter an..."

Dawn, I have had family in the KC area my entire life and since it's so close (3 hours) we would always go shopping and things like that up there when we visit, so I know all the big places...but I would love to here of the fun stuff off the beaten path! I will have to message you to get some tips! Thanks:)

Hi, I am Rev. Kim J. from Breath Of Life. I go back and forth from North to South. Can't handle cold weather any more, and feel more home down South now any way.. but family is all North.
I love to read good clean books, review them on my book blog and hear what every one else thinks. Joining here because sometimes I have to have my daughter to challenge me to get reading so many now I will have others to do that to.. lol..

Welcome! Is it ok if we call you Kim? I'm happy you found us. If you have any questions just let me know.

Wow this group has doubled in size just today. Way to go with an awesome group Cherie!

I'm Nash from Malaysia. I love reading since I was a kid. My parents used to take me and my sibling to the library a lot. I love chick-lit, cozy mystery, crime, thriller and I've been reading quite a lot of YA recently.

I don't think I have any kind of favorite challenge. I guess, any kind of challenge is fine as long as it fits my time and genre..

Anyway, Thank you so much for inviting me, Cherie :)
Have a nice day, everyone!

You're welcome Nash! Thanks for the introduction. :)

Yes it is just fine to call me Kim ..

Hi everyone! Quite a few of you are rather familiar. I must have seen you over at those other challenge groups (SOS Serious Overload of Series, Crazy Challenge Connection, Nothing But Reading Challenges, The Lost Challenges, Dementia Reading Challenges, My Big Fat Booky Challenges, Romance Readers Reading Challenges and even a few others). haha It's nice to have challenge friends.

I'm Barbara from New Jersey and like everyone else challenge addicted. Is there a PC way to state that? At last count I had over 150 ongoing challenges so I need more like I need a hole in my head. Help, I'm challenged-obsessed and I can't stop.

Southpaw285 knows of my addiction and like a good enabler, invited me to participate in even more challenges. Thanks Southpaw!

Just kidding. I love the diversity and ingenuity of the challenges I've seen and being able to work on some of the better ones that I missed to joining a group late or just plain didn't see it is great. The group concept is so simple yet genius. Thanks Cherie for pulling this together.

I'll get to joining some challenges now.

Kari wrote: "Wow this group has doubled in size just today. Way to go with an awesome group Cherie!"

Thanks Kari! I was hoping people would like it. I guess there are quite a few challenge addicts out there. :)

Aww, thanks Barbara ★! I really enjoyed putting this together and I have some fun ideas for the future. I hope everyone has fun and maybe finds out about some other challenge groups that they weren't aware of before.

Welcome to the group!