The Reads of an Apple

 Happy Thursday!

Today I have another readathon announcement! Jenn at the Book Refuge has created another readathon, this one for Fan Fiction! She has gotten Tiffany, Mel and Rachel to host with her. It will run November 1st through the 7th. There are some templates on their instagrams, but Jenn once again created a build your own bingo board. There is a 3x3 and 4x4 board available with two pages of prompts.

I decided to do 3x3 and my board is below! Now, I used to read a lot of fan fiction, but it's been a minute since I picked one up. I'm excited to get back to it and have quite a few picked out from several different fandoms. I decided to go easy and just pick off of Archive of Our Own (AO3) since they have an option to download a fic as an epub (and then email to your kindle)! Also, I picked the ones I was interested in first and then chose prompts off of what I picked to make things easiest on myself.

📺 Power Over Me by hufflepuff_ish - a Harry Potter oneshot between Helga Hufflpuff and Salazar Slytherin (I love the slytherpuff pairing)

📺 Green Shoots by Jetainia - Another Helga and Salazar oneshot

📺 The Footprints Left Behind by Willow9124 - A Spuffy (Spike and Buffy from Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

📺 Needs Must by EllieRose101 - Another Spuffy Fic, 5 chapters this time

📺 Sensitive by sweetlikesalt - A 2 chapter SasuSake (Sakura and Sasuke from Naruto) fic

📺 In Times of Peace by SouthSideStory - A 15 chapter SasuSake fic

📺 Long Live the King by SeliniErastis - An 8 chapter fic of Betty and Ice King/Simon (Adventure Time)

📺 Songbird by wurm_food - An Ace (One Piece) oneshot

📺 Manacled by senlinyu - A massive (370k words) Dramoine (Draco and Hermoine) fic - please check any content warnings

A lot of the fics I chose were shorter and I wanted to try to go back to some of my favorites. I mainly used to read Buffy, One Piece and Naruto fan fics back in the day. I'm excited to try Adventure Time for the first time and I will want to at least start Manacled. It's a big one though so I'm not sure I'll get through it all during the week. Although, there is an audiobook available on Spotify via podcast that is through chapter 56 (there's 77 total). I'm excited to get back to some fanfiction. Depending on how long the fic is I might not do a full review for each separately but do a round up. We'll see what happens!

Are you participating in the Fan Fiction Readathon?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

 Happy Tuesday!

As we get into October, it's time for the next round of Love in the Night! It's once again hosted by Heather, Stef, Laura, Izzy and Shae. The readathon will last from October 9th through the 15th. Instead of doing a bingo board, they opted for another scavenger hunt! Below are the items we are looking to find.

If you are lucky, you could find one book that would cover all or most of the prompts! I'll be mainly focusing on reading books that I'm planning for Bang in the Night and Fall in Love, but that will cross well with those items. I do have more options that I didn't mention in those tbrs as well, so I'll list a couple other things that I might look at picking up during the readathon!

🧹 The group book is The Captive Merman's Promise by Zoey Castile which sounds very intriguing

🧹 I've also been wanting to read April Asher's Not the Witch You Wed. The second book in the series comes out in 2023, so now would be a perfect time to pick it up!

🧹 I've also been wanting to read the fantasy romance series Mead Mishaps by Kimberly Lemming

🧹 A new release that has witchy vibes that I'm interested in is The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

Not too many options, but I tried to pick ones that I was already thinking of and hoping that I haven't mentioned before. We'll see what I end up actually reading! Definitely check out all of the hosts (linked above) for more recs and information. They also have a couple instagram templates you could use.

Will you be participating in Love in the Night?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

 I am back with another quarterly challenge; I just can't help myself! After taking a break from the Romance Readers Reading Challenges group quarterly challenges (the last one I did was the Taylor Swift Quarterly Challenge), I will be participating in the ongoing one. It started on September 15th, 2022 and will run through December 14th, 2022. You probably already saw from the title, but the theme for this challenge is Color Me Romantic.

Level 1 - Read 5 books

Level 2 - Read 10 books

Level 3 - Read 20 books

Level 4 - Read 30 books

This is a shorter challenge with the highest level and prompts only numbering at 30. Once again, you can read as little or as much as you want. My goal is to reach level 4, but I just tend to read as I go and then see where I'm at when we reach the last couple weeks of the challenge. They also have a bonus option once again that is listed at the bottom of the prompts that can be applied to any level. Let's get to the prompts!

1) Red - Read a book with red on the cover OR a book with a passionate or intense character

2) Yellow - Read a book with yellow on the cover OR a book with a 'sunny' or happy character

3) Orange - Read a book with orange on the cover OR a book with a character who plays or watches a sport

4) Green - Read a book with green on the cover OR a book with a jealous or outdoorsy character

5) Blue - Read a book with blue on the cover OR a book with a character who works in the medical or mental heal fired or a character dealing with a  physical or mental illness

6) Indigo (third eye chakra) - Read a book with a nerdy/geeky/brainy character OR a spiritual romance

7) Violet (chakra connected to enlightenment) - Read a book with a new-to-you author OR a book with an interesting cover

8) Black - Read a book with black on the cover OR with a mystery in the story

9) White - Read a book with white on the cover OR with an innocent or virginial character

10) Gray - Read a book with gray on the cover OR with an older character

11) Silver - Read a book with silver on the cover OR a road trip romance or a story with travel

12) Gold - Read a book with gold on the cover OR with a wealthy character or a character who wants to become wealthy

13) Beige (calm and simplicity) - Read a shorter title OR a book you would want to read while curled up in bed or by the fire

14) Purple - Read a book with purple on the cover OR with a character who is royalty or nobility or deals with someone royal or noble

15) Lavender (floral symbol of love at first sight) - Read an insta-love story OR a book you immediately wanted to read from either the cover, title or description

16) Pink - Read a book with pink on the cover OR with a romantic or loving character

17) Brown - Read a book with brown on the cover OR a shifter story

18) Turqouise - Read a book set on an island OR with water on the cover

19) Mauve - Read a book with clothing on the cover OR with a fashionable character

20) Tan - Read a book set in a rural area or set on a farm or ranch OR with a character who goes on vacation

21) Navy Blue - Read a book with a character in the military or a veteran OR with a boat on the cover

22) Royal Blue - Read a book set in Europe OR with a character who is a 'royal pain' (annoying)

23) Coral - Read a book that has been lingering at the bottom of your tbr pile OR with a genre you don't read often

24) Sky Blue - Read a book with a sky on the cover OR with a pilot or airport in the story

25) Maroon - Read a book with a character who is stranded somewhere OR that is a stand-alone

26) Peach - Read a book set in the South (US) OR with a sweet character

27) Teal - Read a book with an animal on the cover OR in the story

28) Olive - Read a book with a deceptive or sneaky character (or a book you want to read on your e-reader to hide the cover) - I will NOT be using the second prompt - I take issue with the connotation; If you read romance, don't be afraid of what other's may say/think. READ WHAT YOU WANT! No shame!

29) Bronze - Read a historical OR a book that has won an award

30) Mint Green - Read a book with lips or a mouth on the cover OR one you find refreshing

*Bonus: Read a book that contains the name of a color you like either in the title, series name or author's name

Once again I'm hoping that a lot of the books I'll read for the Fall in Love reading challenge and Bang in the Night will help complete most of this challenge. I'm sure there will be a couple other readathons popping up that will help me complete some prompts (there's usually a couple monster or paranormal based readathons in October). Below are a couple option I have that aren't mentioned in what I already have as options from those challenges and my normal tbr/book club books.

🎨 For a broad idea, hopefully at least in the beginning of December I'll be able to pick up some historical romances. Those usually work well to cover quite a few of these prompts, more specifically I'm thinking Bronze, White, Navy Blue, Royal Blue and Purple.

🎨 For the Olive prompt since I disagree with the second half of the option, I'll be looking for a deceptive character. That makes me think of hidden identity or a spy character. A couple options that stand out to me are To Steal a Heart by K.C. Bateman and The Ugly Stepsister by Megan Van Dyke.

🎨 Releasing in October is the 5th book in Juliette Cross's Stay a Spell series, Resting Witch Face. The cover will work perfectly for Yellow or Orange depending on how it'll look in person.

🎨 For Coral and lingering at the bottom of my TBR, my immediate thought was either finally starting my reread of Kerrelyn Spark's Embraced series or finishing Claire Kingsley's Baily Brothers series with Rewriting the Stars.

Not too many options, but definitely check out my other tbrs to see what I might be picking up. To participate, just check out the link to the reader group on facebook above and it'll be listed in the forum section for the quarterly challenges. If you like doing reading challenges, they have lot of different ones with various time frames. Definitely join the group to see what they have going on!

Will you be participating in the Color Me Romantic Quarterly Challenge?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

 Time for a new season! After finishing up Summer of Swoon, it's time for Shelby's fall reading challenge, Fall in Love! It will once again run from September 1st through November 30th. Shelby has a lot of recs and more information on her instagram, but the three bingo boards she created are below.

For this TBR I'm going to focus on the first bingo board. I already have made a list for myself with the books I planned to pick up this month (from my September TBR) and which prompts they can cover. For any of the prompts left over, I'll be focusing on ideas for those in particular. I also tried to pick a lot of books I already had ebook copies of or were available in Kindle Unlimited.

🍂 I've seen a lot recently about Kimberly Lemming's Mead Mishaps series. This would work to cover  at least diverse main character, 2021 release and new to you author

🍂 For fall cover I've been intrigued by Accidentally Amy by Lynn Painter

🍂 Brooklynaire by Sarina Bowen would be a great option for cinnamon roll hero and I've been trying to get to at least that book in her Brooklyn Bruisers series

🍂 Set in Fall is a little harder for me. I could pick up any Halloween set romance, but I'm leaning towards McKenzie's Turn to Fall by Harlow James

For the second board, once we hit October I'm hoping that I'll be able to read books that will work for both this and the Bang in the Night Bingo. It's always helpful when I can get books to work across all the different reading challenges I participate in. Then in November I can focusing on finishing the first board if need be and hopefully the second as well. We'll see what happens! If you are looking for more fall recommendations, definitely check out what I read last year as well!

Will you be participating in Fall in Love?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

 I can't believe we are almost at fall!

Since we are approaching spooky season, it's time for the 2nd round of Bang in the Night Bingo! This is once again hosted by the ladies that the But Does it Bang? book club, Jacque and Beth! They do have a discord, so reach out to either of them on instagram to join. Once again they are starting the time frame early on September 19th and will run through Halloween! For the 2nd round, they are sub-captioning this round as The Monster Smash. I love it! Below is the blank bingo board followed by some of the tbr ideas I have for this round! Just a note, they do allow you to use a book for up to three prompts, but once again I'm going to try to just use one book per prompt.

🦇 Midnight with the Devil by Emma Castle - perfect for deal with the devils since it has a deal in the book and devil is in the title

🦇 The Liar's Crown by Abigail Owen - new release of hers that has a skull on the cover and also features twins

🦇 Kresley Cole's Immortals After Dark series - The next book I have to read is No Rest for the Wicked - at the very least it would cover #squadgoals, bite me and full moon on cover

🦇 Serpent's Touch by Marina Simcoe - Monster romance with a male gorgon

🦇 To Date an Immortal by Stephanie Rowe - twins and magic

🦇 Night Pleasures by Sherrilyn Kenyon - Has at least twins, vampire and published in October

🦇 Halloween Boo by Sarah Spade - A Hocus Pocus inspired novella with a ghost mc!

🦇 Moonbright, Maine series by Kate Angell - at the very least PSL vibes

🦇 The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling - magic, full moon on the cover and has a cat

🦇 The Vampire's Mail Order Bride by Kristen Painter - A KU vampire romance

🦇 Molly Harper's Mystic Bayou series - a lot of shifters and common paranormal tropes

🦇 I can also finally read the last couple Ice Planet Barbarian books by Ruby Dixon - they have horns

So a lot of my ideas are fantasy, paranormal and sci-fi based since those fulfill the prompts a little easier. I am also hoping to get some fun Halloween and/or fall based contemporaries. Hopefully I'll be able to do quite a few that will cross with Shelby's Fall in Love reading challenge (TBR will be posted this Thursday). Last year they had a spot on the review template for a theme song and I went for only Taylor Swift songs. I haven't decided which artist I'll go for this year, but I'm hoping to use only one artist again. Check out my instagram once the reading challenge starts to see who I ended up choosing!

Will you be participating Bang in the Night?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

Update: Wrap up is posted for the 2nd board! 

Even though we are almost done with the Summer of Swoon reading challenge, I figured I'd do a mini-tbr for the 2nd bingo board. If you want to see what I did for the first, check out my wrap up for that! Just to do a quick recap, it runs through August 31st and is hosted by Shelby Taggart on instagram! Below is the blank bingo board if you haven't seen it yet.

So, I have had to move quite a few books to the second board as I've been reading that didn't work for prompts on the first, so I have 12 books already completed for the board! Below is my updated board. I'll put a few options I have planned for the remaining prompts.

🌊 For summer 2022 release I have a couple options that I plan on picking up as soon as I can, Ruby Fever by Ilona Andrews and Her Unexpected Roommate by Jackie Lau. Those could also at least work for yellow on cover, bright colors on cover or author with more than 5 published books.

🌊 Also I have quite a few books to read from Ali Hazelwood. Her new book Love on the Brain also comes out soon. I also need to read the other two books in her STEMinist Novellas series. These should also work to cover 2021 debut author, romcom, published in July and/or bright colors on the cover.

🌊 For set in summer I'm thinking of picking up Katie Rose's Boys of Summer series. It's a baseball sports romance series and want to at least try the first book.

🌊 Some other options are to pick up some historical romances. If it's set during the season, those would cover any set in summer prompts as well as work for a favorite sub-genre.

So I have a few readalong and book club books I'll need to get to by the end of the month, so other than those I'm really looking at only needing to pick up 7 other books, of which some of the options are above. As long as I don't get sucked into too much other things it should be doable. Or I might binge some last minute novellas. We'll see what I end up reading!

Are you participating in Summer of Swoon?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

Update: My Wrap Up is posted!!

 Time for the next round of the Romance Takeover Readathon! This readathon is organized by Jenn at The Book Refuge. She is mashing it together with her older readathon that was Light vs Dark. There is a lot of pieces at play for this readathon, so the best bet would be to check out Jenn's announcement video for all the details for the different factions and way to build your bingo board. It will run August 1st through the 7th. The hosts are Jenn, Crystal, Jessen, Rachel, Christi and Caitlin.

Above is the bingo board I created. As we are reaching the beginning of August, it's time for me to really start finishing up my reading challenges. The one I'm hoping to mostly finish during this readathon is the Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo. Since I have just a few prompts, I tried to focus on books that would help me finish out that and chose from the available light and gray prompts for this readathon. I put them on my bingo board at random. I am mostly a mood reader, so this is a stricter tbr than I usually do, but there's a lot going on in August so if I don't want to feel rushed at the end of the month I want to get through my reading challenge prompts as soon as possible. Below, the top few books are what I plan on picking up the rest are hopefuls.

💡 Walking in Fire by Cathryn Cade - should cover foodie, paranormal and possibly age gap

💡 The STEMinist Novellas series by Ali Hazelwood - should cover rom com, forced proximity, friends to lovers, 2nd chance and/or work place

💡 Donut Fall in Love by Jackie Lau - should cover celebrity and foodie

💡 Never Sweeter by Charlotte Stein - should cover sports, plus-sized, new adult and virgin hero

💡 Touched to the Heart by Elsa Winckler - should cover sports and billionaire

💡 Gaslight Hades by Grace Draven - should cover fantasy and 2nd chance

💡 Whispers on the Wind by Donna Fletcher - should cover historical and possibly paranormal

Hopefully I'll get to the first couple books, I'm particularly excited excited for Walking in Fire. I could end up picking up other books, especially once other participants start posting their tbrs. I'm excited to participate though and am hoping to get at least one bingo!

Will you be participating in the Romance Takeover Readathon Light v. Dark?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

Update: My wrap up is posted! 

Happy Thursday!

I have a fun announcement today, I have created my own readathon! With my team, the Colorado Avalanche having just won the Stanley Cup, I wanted to celebrate. What better way to do that than with something I love to do, read! I have done an announcement video on YouTube as well as a TBR and recommendations video. I'll also touch on my TBR ideas down below.

The readathon will go from July 10th through the 17th. I plan on mostly hosting it on instagram, so check out my link in the side bar. I'll have all the information saved in my highlights as well as a normal post. I'm not going to go too much into it since I have the posts as well as my video, but I do want to touch base on what I have planned.

It's a build your own roster bingo board. As you can see above there are 9 prompts total. Three of the prompts are the same for everybody, the GM, Coach and Cup. Now is where you build your roster. You will need to select three Forwards, two Defensemen and one Goalie. I have posted the prompts list below. I do go over them all in my video linked above as well as going into why I chose certain prompts for certain players. Outside of those prompts, there are alternatives for each player (all options except for the cup). As you can see in the last photo below, you can also use the players' numbers to clear the square if it is in the publication date, total page number or number in the series. Also, I'm allowing for any hockey romance to clear a square. Technically if you are using a book to cover as many prompts as possible, you could read just one hockey romance and have a blackout!

Here is the the written version of what I have planned to read as well as who I've chosen for my bingo board:

🏒 I've been working my way through Sarina Bowen's Brooklyn Bruisers series. I plan to read at the very least Pipe Dreams, book 3. If I feel the need to binge, I'll also pick up book 4, Brooklynaire.

🏒 The Rake Appreciation Society is also hosting a bonus live show on July 14th for Jane Austen's Persuasion. I was able to get the audio and ebook versions free through Amazon's Prime Reads. I plan to read the audiobook during the readathon for the live show.

🏒 I also created a spinner wheel to finally pick up a new author that has hockey romances that I haven't picked up yet. Below is what I added:
- On the Surface by Kate Willoughby - In the Zone book 1
- Offside by Juliana Stone - Barker Triplets book 1
- Dirty Secret by Mira Lyn Kelly - Slayers Hockey book 1
- My Halloween Heartbreak by Melanie Ting - Holiday Hattrick book 2
- Change on the Fly by Maren Moore - Totally Pucked book 1

🏒 Also, I added Piper Rayne's Hockey Hotties series to the spinner wheel because I'd like to reread the first couple books before moving on to the newer releases.

There's a lot of options, but I'm hoping to read at least the three books. I am focusing on hockey romances, but like with my plans for Persausion, you don't have to read hockey romance. It's just easier to meet the prompts if you do! I hope you join me in the readathon! I'm nervous since it'll be my first time hosting, but I'm hoping at least a couple people will participate!

Will you be participating in the Hockey Champions Readathon?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

Update: My Wrap Up is posted! 

It's back! Summer of 2022 means the 6th round of Summer Bingo hosted by the Ripped Bodice. I have participated they last few years and they always have tougher, more unique prompts. It's definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone and/or my research skills to find books that work. If this is the first time you're hearing about this bingo, it runs from June 1st through August 31st. To learn more or find copies of the information, check out their website.

The Ripped Bodice also allows for you to enter to win prizes up to 5 times, 4 bingos and then the final for blackout. I've entered every year that I've participated, but still haven't won anything. Maybe this'll be the year I win! The link to the google form is also on their website linked above. Below is the bingo board followed by some of the ideas I have for the more unique prompts!

🍦 For Superhero I have a couple options already on my kindle - JA Huss's Anarchy Found and a recently found author Trish Heinrich and her Vigilante series

🍦 For Steampunk I have a lot of different series that could work, but I narrowed it down to the London Steampunk series by Bec McMaster or checking out one of Meljean Brook's series (also known as Milla Vane)

🍦 For Architect this took a little bit of research on my end. I checked some listopia lists and checked for what was already marked as want to read. I found Underneath It All by Kate Canterbary. I also discovered a new series called Hearts and Crafts by Nicole Michaels and book three has an architect.

🍦 Animal Rescue or Shelter was a little harder to find as well. I have quite a few veterinarian books, but not too many of them are set at a shelter or rescue. I did remember though that I still need to finish Jill Shalvis's Animal Magnetism, of which the next book I have to read is Rescue My Heart.

🍦 For Amnesia I went to my historical books and have a couple that I haven't read yet from top authors of mine - How to Forget a Duke by Vivienne Lorret and Someone to Watch Over Me by Lisa Kleypas.

🍦 Made-up Country - This was also a prompt I had to do some research into. I found that some of Emma Chase's Royally series takes place in a made-up country as well as Twisted Games by Ana Huang. If I want to be super easy though, I could also use pretty much any fantasy romance to work for this prompt. 

🍦 The final prompt I'm going to give some ideas for is Ghost. I have physical copies of Whispers of the Wind by Donna Fletcher and Shadow's Kiss by Joan Hohl. I also am intrigued by Cindy Miles's Ghosts series.

I'm super excited to see what books I end up choosing for some of these more unique prompts. Let me know if you have any ideas that I might have missed! Feel free to leave a comment below or reach out on instagram to let me know. Also feel free to check out what I've read before by looking at the rippedbodicebingo tag.

Will you be participating in the Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

Update: Wrap up is posted!
Update: TBR is posted for the second board!
Update: Wrap up is posted for the 2nd board! 

 Happy Thursday!

As we're nearing the end of May, it's time for the next seasonal reading challenge announcement! Shelby has been a little quiet lately on Instagram, but she did post new boards for the next round of Summer of Swoon! She once again created 3 bingo boards. I did participate last year and a few of the prompts cross over, so if you are looking for more ideas check out the tag. I did manage to do some last minute binge reading last summer to finish all three boards! It will once again run from June 1st through August 31st. Below are all three bingo boards!

As you can see there are a lot of different kinds of  prompts across all three boards. I'm just going to focus on some ideas for the more specific prompts here, but as always things can change since doing these longer challenges allows me to mood read more. I mostly stuck with books that are set in summer time, occur in beach locations or are outdoorsy. Below are some of my top ideas

🌊 Don't Call Me Cupcake by Tara Sheet

🌊 I Married the Duke by Katharine Ashe

🌊 Jetty Beach series by Claire Kingsley

🌊 In Over Her Head by Judi Fennell

🌊 The Catch by Lauren Mae

🌊 Sunrise Cove by Jill Shalvis

🌊 Tents & Tights by Molly O'Hare

🌊 I can also continue my reread of the Lucky Harbor series by Jill Shalvis and pick back up the Barefoot William Beach series by Kate Angell

I'm super excited to participate in another of Shelby's Challenges and hopefully I'll do a little better than I did with Love Has Sprung! Please check out Shelby's instagram (linked above) for more templates and recommendations. I'll also update as I read on my stories and save them in the highlights.

Will you be participating in Summer of Swoon?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

Update: Wrap Up is posted! 

It's time for another readathon announcement! This time it's for the next round of the Historical Romance Readathon. As always, it's hosted by Jessica, Lisa and Lacey. They've made some pretty instagram templates, so check them out there. It will run from May 9th through the 15th. They usually do a live show on the last day, but I haven't seen an announcement about date and time yet. Below is the bingo board they've put together for this round!

I once again have a lot of ideas, so we'll see what I end up reading. The first two are books that are at the top of my list, followed by books I picked to fit prompts still left open. Then I added what I would read if I went full mood reader. Too many option once again, but I also tried to pick a lot I have in paperback! I also want to note that I will use books for multiple prompts once again.

🌺 The group book chosen for this round is the first book in Julie Garwood's Crown's Spies series, The Lion's Lady. From what I can tell, it will cover in a series, rake, clinch cover, spies, Julie Garwood and flowers on the cover.

🌺 The May Rake Appreciation Society book is The Marquess Makes His Move by Diana Quincy. The meeting is the following Thursday and it would cover at least part of a series, clinch cover and flowers on the cover.

🌺 A Lisa Kleypas I have yet to pick up that is a popular book of hers is Again the Magic. This is the prequel to her fabulous Wallflowers series. It can cover rags to riches hero, 2nd chance and in a series.

🌺 Looking through my paperbacks for a highlander book I hadn't read yet, I found How to Abduct a Highland Lord by Karen Hawkins. It would cover that but also part of a series, marriage of convenience and enemies to lovers.

🌺 Looking for a Western to pick up, I still have to read Lorraine Heath's Rogues in Texas series. The first book is Rogue in Texas and would cover single parent, part of a series and flowers on the cover as well.

🌺 Most of the historical romances I own are apart of a series, so I had to do some digging to find a standalone. I finally stumbled across a recent acquire; Scandalous by Jenna Petersen. This would cover standalone plus rake, clinch cover, marriage of convenience and flowers on the cover.

🌺 The final prompt I had to cover when putting together my list was heiress. This one took a while, but I finally decided on The Heiress Effect by Courtney Milan. It would also work for part of a series and indie published.

🌺 Some final quickfire ideas of historicals I want to read regardless of prompts are The Wife Trap by Tracy Anne Warren, The Good Girl's Guide to Rakes by Eva Leigh and Hitched to the Gunslinger by Michelle McLean.

It'll be fun to jump right from the Mafia Romance Readathon into this one. If you are looking for more ideas, check out my hrreadathon tag to see what I read the previous rounds I've participated in. You could also look at the historical romance tag too! I'm so excited to participate once again and am happy it's in the beginning of the month so I won't have a bunch of book club and readalong books to get to yet!

Will you be participating in the Historical Romance Readathon?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

Update: Wrap up is posted!

It's that time again for the Mafia Romance Readathon! It's once again being hosted by Jenn, Jessen, Jessica, Tiffany and Tori, but this time Madison is also joining as a host. It will run from May 5th through 8th. Jenn once again created a list of prompts that you can use to create your own bingo board! Below is the list of prompts and a copy of the blank board. She also has more templates on her instagram, so check them all out!

 Hello and Happy Tuesday!

I'm back for another readathon announcement, and a little late this time. Somehow I missed the announcement that went up a little bit ago, but it's time for the next round of the Dark Romance Readathon! It's once again hosted by Heather, Isabel, Temecka, Ashley and Nayema. This year they went back to the bingo board layout. The blank bingo board is below. Last year I ended up only read one book for the readathon, but I feel like going into it I'm in more of the mood for Dark Romance and it'll be a good addition to the remaining books I have to read for the month.

Now, below will be a few ideas that I have for the weekend, but I'm not having as many this time. I went more with the mafia route since one of those could easily get me a bingo. I also looked at what prompts I have remaining for the first bingo board of Love Has Sprung and what wasn't already covered by the book club books I have to get through the rest of the month. This has led to a more specific idea list for me than I usually do, but we'll see what happens! I should also mention, there is a unofficial group book that will guarantee a bingo and it's Dark Mafia Prince by Annika Martin. I'm not going to be picking it up, but just thought I should mention it.

❤ One mafia series I haven't picked up in a while is Cora Reilly's Born in Blood Mafia Chronicles. I am planning on going through the reading order suggested on her website so will need to read Bound by Love before finally getting to the Camorra Chronicles.

❤ I also need to read more in Serena Akeroyd's Five Points' Mob series and the next book I have to pick up there is Filthy Rich.

❤ I've also been intrigued by Tillie Cole's Raze for a while but still haven't picked it up yet. She's an author I haven't read yet.

❤ Another new to me mafia author I've been wanting to try is Adelaide Forrest. I want to start her Bellandi Crime Syndicate series and the first book is Bloodied Hands.

❤ Getting out of the mafia books, the only other dark romance I'm looking at is Untouchable by Sam Mariano. It's a favorite of Jenn's and I've been wanting to read it for a while. Just haven't been in the mood. Maybe now's the time to pick it up!

Hopefully I'll be able to get through at lease one book again, but I'm hoping at least two or three. It's also Easter weekend and I have plans on Saturday and Sunday, but we'll see what I can get done!

Will you be participating in the Dark Romance Readathon?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

Happy March 15th!

Today I have another tbr/announcement for another quarterly (three-month) challenge. This  time it's for the Taylor Swift Quarterly Challenge! I found this on the Romance Readers Reading Challenges goodreads group (the same one hosting the Yahtzee Reading Challenge). You can check their post for all the details, but I'll go over the basics here and list out the prompts! First off though, this is a three month challenge that runs from March 15th (today!!) through June 14th, 2022. 

Now where this is a little different, there isn't a bingo board or spinner wheel or anything. Depending on how many books you read, you can reach a certain level. In this case, they are sticking with the Taylor Swift theme. The levels are:

Level 1 - Read 5 books - I've heard a Taylor Swift song on the radio

Level 2 - Read 10 books - I have a Taylor album downloaded on my phone

Level 3 - Read 20 books - I have seen Taylor in concert or plan to in the future

Level 4 - Read 30 books - Taylor merch and vinyl albums are in my room

Level 5 - Read 40 books - I am a Swiftie!

You can set your level or goal beforehand or just read and see where you end up. I'll be going with the latter option and seeing how close I am to the next level once we reach the final couple weeks. There are 40 prompts provided, all based off of her songs. There are a few bonus options as well (which I'll post at the end of the prompts). If you complete all of the prompts and bonus options you'd end up with a total of 47 books read! Okay, let's get into the large list of prompts!

1. Tim McGraw- Read a book with a cowboy or a book set on a ranch or farm

2. Teardrops on My Guitar- Read a book that you think could make you cry or a book with an instrument on the cover or in the story

3. Fifteen- Read a YA story or a book with teens in the story or a book with a lot of angst

4. Love Story- Read any romance - guaranteed HEA!

5. White Horse- Read a story with a character who saves another or a book with white on the cover

6. You Belong with Me- Read a fated mates story or a book with a character who knows what they want

7. Mine- Read a book you own or a book that you really don't want to give back if you've borrowed it (hopefully you love it that much!)

8. Back to December- Read a book published in December of any year (any edition) or a Historical book

9. Dear John- Read a book that includes a text, letter or email or a book with a break-up in it.

10. Mean- Read a story with a mean character or a book with green on the cover (maybe they are jealous?)

11. The Story of Us- Read a book that is part of a series or a book with more than one person on the cover

12. I Knew You Were Trouble- Read a book with a bad-boy character or with someone who does a bad thing

13. All Too Well- Read a story with a fit character or an athlete or a book with a character who helps themselves in some way

14. 22- Read a New Adult book or a book with two of the same number together in the page count or publishing date (i.e. 133 or 441 pages, pub. 2022, 2011)

15. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together- Read a second-chances romance or a book featuring a self-confident character

16. Everything Has Changed (featuring Ed Sheeran)- Read a friends to lovers story or a book featuring magic or spells

17. Welcome to New York- Read a book set in NY or a story featuring a friendly character

18. Blank Space- Read a book with a character who works in the sciences (i.e. astronaut, chemist, doctor) or a character who uses a gun (hopefully shooting blanks)

19. Out of the Woods- Read a book with a character with a medical condition or a book set in an urban city

20. Shake It Off- Read a book with a character who likes the arts (i.e. dancer, singer, painter) or a story with a character you want to shake some sense into

21. Bad Blood- Read an enemies to lovers story or a book with red on the cover

22. Wildest Dreams- Read a book outside your normal romance sub-genre or a book with a wild cover (your interpretation)

23. Look What You Made Me Do- Read a suspense story or a book with eye(s) on the cover

24. Getaway Car- Read a road trip romance or a book with a vehicle on the cover or in the story

25. Lover- Read a book with an embrace on the cover or in the story

26. Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince- Read a book set in the U.S. or a book with a ‘heartbreaker’ in the story

27. Cornelia Street- Read a story with a road or building on the cover or a small-town romance

28. Death By A Thousand Cuts- Read a story with a motorcycle club character or a book with over 1000 ratings

29. You Need to Calm Down- Read a story with a lawyer or a book with the color blue on the cover

30. ME! Ft. Brendon Urie- Read a story with a one word title or a book written by a duo/writing team

31. Cardigan- Read a book with clothes on the cover or a story you want to read while getting cozy by the fire

32. The Last Great American Dynasty- Read a book with royalty in the story or a wealthy character

33. August- Read a 'hot' story or a book with a character you would like to spend some hot times with

34. Betty- Read a book with a character who has an interesting name or a medieval story (Betty Rubble comes to mind)

35. Willow- Read a book with tree(s) on the cover or a book with a witch or witchy character in it (homage to Willow from Buffy)

36. Champagne problems- Read a book with a bar, bartender, server or alcohol in the story or a book that makes you feel hung over when you finish it

37. ‘tis the damn season- Read a holiday romance or a book with a scroogey character in it

38. No body, no crime feat. HAIM- Read a mystery or a book without a person on the cover

39. Happiness- Read a story that you think will make you happy or a book that finally came in for you at the library (online or in the building)

40. Ivy- Read a book with a college setting or with a college student in the story or a book with brown on the cover

Bonus:

S-W-I-F-T-I-E

For the bonus round, you can read a book for each letter. The qualification is that a word from the title, series, author's name or setting must start with that letter. That opens up the bonus options quite a bit, and if you aren't going for the full monty can use a bonus book to replace a prompt (meaning you could read 5 bonus books and meet level one).

As you can see (if you read through every prompt) a lot of them are generic enough to met really easily. I do have a few ideas I want to mention for the more specific prompts, but honestly I'm really just hoping a lot of my reads for Love Has Sprung will count for prompts here as well. 

🎵 So Jenn from The Book Refuge recently announced that she'll be doing a Sarah J Maas readalong starting in April. We are starting with her Throne of Glass series which starts out as YA (young adult) and I've been told moves into NA (new adult). I should be able to at least use the first book for the YA prompt Fifteen.

🎵 Tim McGraw wants you to read something set on a farm or ranch or feature a cowboy main character. I have quite a few options on my list, but at this moment I'm leaning towards continuing Katie Lane's Deep in the Heart of Texas series or finally starting Kennedy Fox's Circle B Ranch series. I know at least the Kennedy Fox's have been highly rated by Shelby, so they should meet some of the Shelby based prompts for Love Has Sprung as well.

🎵 The Blank Space prompt wants a character that works in the sciences. Penny Reid is releasing a new standalone in April called Ten Trends to Seduce Your Best Friend that has both main characters working in science fields. She has a lot of STEM characters, so there could be other of her books that would work for this as well.

🎵 A couple of the prompts mention suspense or mystery elements. Outside of Penny Reid's Solving for Pie series, I was thinking of pick back up Pamela Clare. I need to get caught up on her Colorado High Country series, but she also has the suspense series I-Team that I've read a couple books from.

🎵 The Last Great American Dynasty needs a royal character. My first thought is finally picking up Twisted Games by Ana Huang or picking up Emma Chase's Royally series.

🎵 We also have a prompt for a holiday romance in 'Tis the Damn Season. There's aren't really any holidays during the reading challenge outside of St. Patrick's Day. I know there's a multi-author series called The Kelly Brothers that's St. Patrick's Day based. I think there's a couple others out there, but I'll probably pick up one of those for fun that weekend.

If I completely finish Love Has Sprung, that will give me 75 books, so that should cover most, if not all, of these prompts. Even just getting two boards complete would work since that'll be 50 books. What's nice is that this is slightly offset, so if I need to just focus on finishing a board for Love Has Sprung by May 31st I still have a couple weeks leeway to finish this one too. Also, I should mention that I'll be using the tag TSQC for my blog posts. Once I start getting reviews posted for books that I'm using you'll be able to find them all under the tag easily!

Will you be participating in the Taylor Swift Quarterly Challenge?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

 Happy March! Today I'm doing an announcement for another reading challenge! This one is a little different though, so I'm not doing my typical tbr or idea list. Before we get into it too much, let's go over the basic information. I found this challenge thanks to the fun group on goodreads Romance Readers Reading Challenges. They have a lot of different kinds of reading challenges for various amounts of time. I actually participated in one last June for their Wedding Season Challenge. Back to our Yahtzee challenge though! So this is a little different in that you can only do one prompt a month meaning this challenge will from March 1st, 2022 through March 31st, 2023. Everything is explained in the original post, but if you want to learn more before joining, I'll go over the basic prompts and rules.

So with Yahtzee, we are going with the normal roll 5 dice and keep what you want and roll a total of three times. They are keeping all of the normal goals and I'll list those below with the prompts for each roll. You are required to roll and post your result in the forum (just keep using the same post to update). You have to make your roll between the 25th of the previous month and the 5th of the current month and have it recorded. Then you can choose which option you are applying it too (as per usual). They did make a note that each month there will be an alternative roll option if what you roll doesn't match up with any available options (although let's be honest, that shouldn't be the case for the first month since at the very least you'll have the chance roll). Once you've read the book, you just need to record the book done with the date finished.

GOALS/PROMPTS:

Ones: Read a book with a one word title or first in a series
Twos: Read a book with a two word title or second in a series
Threes: Read a book with a three word title or third in a series
Fours: Read a book with a four word title or fourth in a series
Fives: Read a book with a five word title or fifth in a series
Sixes: Read a book with a six word title or sixth in a series
3-of-a-Kind: Read a book with either red, blue or yellow on the cover
4-of-a-Kind: Read a book with either earth, wind, air or fire on the cover
Full House: Read a book with the number 2 or 3 in the page count or publication date
Small Straight: Read a book with less than 5,000 reviews
Large Straight: Read a book with more than 5,000 reviews
Yahtzee: Read any book
Chance: Read a book by a new-to-you author

There are a few other rules to keep note of. First, for the straight numbers there is a requirement to get at least three (so all of the numbers are technically at least three-of-a-kind). Also, if you get more than one Yahtzee, you can apply it using joker rules, which basically means it can almost go anywhere else. If you don't know what joker rules are, it's explained in the information post. There's also a limit of a book being at least 90 pages long.

If you are interested in a more low-key reading challenge combined with a classic dice game, please join us! If you haven't friended me on goodreads, please do! A big spot I learn about new books or decide to pick up a book is if my friends have or will read it!

Will you be participating in the Yahtzee Reading Challenge?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

Update: Wrap Up for the 1st board is posted! 
Update: My wrap up is posted for the 2nd board!

As we approach the end of February, it's time to start looking forward and into Spring! Shelby is once again hosting her Spring reading challenge Love Has Sprung. The reading challenge runs from March 1st, 2022 through May 31st, 2022. She once again made three bingo boards. I will have all three below, but for more specific tbr ideas I'll be focusing on the first board's more unique prompts. If you would like to join, Shelby has everything on her instagram and said she will also be doing some recommendation posts.

If you are looking for more recommendations that could fit these prompts, feel free to check out my previous tbrs and wrap ups for the other reading challenges I've done by Shelby. I've participated in her Summer of Swoon, Fall in Love and Winter's Kiss challenges. Well, let's get into the ideas that I have!

🌷  For quite a few of the prompts, they require looking at what Shelby has read and loved. You can check out her instagram (linked above) or check out her goodreads. I know that they could cover a lot of the various prompts, but some authors I know she enjoys are Vi Keeland, Penelope Ward, Meghan Quinn and Melanie Harlow.

🌷 There's also going to be some prompts that will be easily met by new releases coming out, specifically in March. I did a quarterly anticipated reads that you can check out. For books that were announced or I discovered after writing that post, I'm also looking forward to The Savage by Sophie Lark, Her Favorite Rebound by Jackie Lau and Rewriting the Stars by Claire Kingsley.

🌷 For my book clubs, I know I will be picking up The Proposal by Mary Balogh and Burn by Suzanne Wright at the very least. These could work for several prompts, including new to you author, two-word title, 1st book in a series, updated or redone cover and backlist romance. I'll also be starting the spin off of the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews, Aurelia Ryder.

🌷 For slow burn immediately Marian Zapata comes to mind. She's known as the queen of slow burn. I've only read one of her books, but I have been wanting to pick up From Lukov with Love since it's about two figure skaters.

🌷 Another specific prompt is foodie romance. I have quite a few options on my tbr, but I'm thinking of picking up The Opposite of You by Rachel Higginson. I first heard about it when Smart Women Read Romance did a podcast episode on it and still haven't gotten around to it.

🌷 When I was going through some trope lists on goodreads, I had a few books that kept popping up that I might try picking up as well. The couple that stood out the most to me are Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie and Faking Ms. Right by Claire Kingsley.

🌷 The last prompt I want to chat about is books that start with R. I do have quite a few (a lot) that start with Rake or Rogue on my kindle. When I looked at what I had physically to read still, I saw Rules of Engagement by Kathryn Caskie. I might go for that one so I can get another physical book off my tbr!

I can't wait to see what I end up reading for the prompts. Since starting Shelby's challenges my reading taste has widened quite a bit and I've picked up a lot more contemporary romance. If you are participating as well, let me know! If you don't follow me on instagram, please do so and let me know so I can follow you back! I'll be posting updates as I read each book and saving it in my stories like always, so feel free to check them out at any time.

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎