RALs and Reading Challenges | 2018

On why I created this special niche of bookish joy:

I was visiting my friend Maggie’s blog for her 30 Days of Thankfulness posts (November 2013), of which, I happily consumed today in earnest! When I noticed that she had a curious header on her blog that mentioned: Events & Read-A-Longs! I was thinking for while now that I should have a place where I could filter all my read-a-long and reading challenge posts but how to do it and how to organise it felt a bit daunting! Therefore, I am thankful she lead the way! I am going to move them away from my “Joyfully Absorbing Lit” page and store them here instead! :) You will still find my personal reading challenge for Inspirational Fiction, & the Classics Club List all have their own pages! Cheers!

{ written: 2014}

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Read-A-Longs (RALs), Readathons,
and Reading Challenges

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Archive of Past RALs & Challenges:

{ 2013 } { 2014 } {2015} {2017}

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2018 Reading Challenges & Readathons

~ let the journey begin! +

I cannot say the years of 2013-2017 yielded the best results for what I was hoping to accomplish per reading challenge I attempted, but throughout my eagerness to read new authors & stories, I had the best of intentions at heart. I simply ran out of the hours necessary to complete the challenges per month and whilst I had twelve months in 2014 to play with, I must confess they evaporated before I could even pick up a farthing of the stories I aimed to have read! Therefore, I am re-defining this section of my blog as re-focusing on personal reading challenges with a few added challenges which truly interest me!

tCC | the Classics Club 2018/23

tCC | the Classics Club 2018/23

Host: The Classics Club
My Summary Post
Progress: 4/369 (1%)
6 August, 2018 — 6 August, 2023
Failed

1

  1. The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton
  2. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin

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2018 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge badge created by Jorie in Canva.

I’ve been tracking how much #HistoricalFiction I am reading on Jorie Loves A Story for a few years now, however, I haven’t had the joy of participating in this challenge directly until now. I am sharing my reviews as they alight on my blog through the monthly link exchange via passagestothepast.com whilst following behind those shares with my own visits to the book bloggers and readers who are sharing their insightful Historical ruminations on the stories they are reading themselves. I look forward to seeing what everyone else is reading and getting to visit bloggers I might not have visited if we hadn’t participated in the same challenge.

On a personal note, I hadn’t realised how much Historical Fiction I read per year until I became a book blogger as I noted I truly do feel these are the stories I am most addicted to reading! There is something to be said for disappearing through time – travelling through countries and eras, alighting where a writer’s character has taken us to traverse and seeing the world a bit differently for our time spent with a character whose journey is moving alongside History’s known time-line.

I decided to shoot for a bit less to read during [2018] – hoping to read at least 50 Historical Fiction
novels to keep my personal goals within this challenge in the Pre-Historic category!

2018 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

Host: Passages to the Past
My Summary Post
Progress: 51/50 (102%)
1 January, 2018 — 31 December, 2018
Completed!

102

Kindly visit with me this year, as this list of stories populates & share your comments & thoughts with me as I continue to discover the Historical authors I love reading! I also shared a few of my upcoming Historical readings per a recent Top Ten Tuesday – perhaps we have a few in common?

  1. The Captain's Disgraced Lady by Catherine Tinley
  2. The Woman in the Camphor Trunk by Jennifer Kincheloe
  3. The Woman in the Camphor Trunk [audiobook] by Jennifer Kincheloe
  4. The Mariage of Miss Jane Austen : Volume One by Collins Hemingway
  5. House on the Forgotten Coast by Ruth Coe Chambers
  6. The Lost Season of Love and Snow by Jennifer Laam
  7. A Looming of Vultures by Richard Storry
  8. The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley
  9. The Storm Sister by Lucinda Riley
  10. Kiss Carlo by Adriana Trigiani
  11. The Shadow Sister by Lucinda Riley
  12. The Pearl Sister by Lucinda Riley
  13. The Secret Life of Mrs London by Rebecca Rosenberg
  14. The Forgotten Girl by Heather Chapman
  15. Sherlock Holmes in a Reflection in Evil by William Todd
  16. The Phantom's Apprentice by Heather Webb
  17. Dante's Gift by Aubrey Wynne
  18. The Darling Dahlias series Novels 1-6-7 by Susan Wittig Albert
  19. In Spite of Lions by Scarlette Pike
  20. The Breedling and the Trickster by Kimberlee Ann Bastian
  21. Ain't Misbehavin' by Jennifer Lamont Leo
  22. Esctasy by Mary Sharratt
  23. A Cowboy of Convenience by Stacy Henrie
  24. The Widow's Redeemer by Philippa Jane Keyworth
  25. The Underground River by Martha Conway
  26. Trial on Mount Koya by Susan Spann
  27. The Secret of Haversham House by Julie Matern
  28. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin
  29. The Bloody Black Flag by Steve Goble
  30. Escapement by Kristen Wolf
  31. Lilli de Jong by Janet Benton
  32. The Fourteenth of September by Rita Dragonette
  33. Love and Secrets at Cassfield Manor by Sarah L. McConkie
  34. To Wed an Heiress by Rosanne E. Lortz
  35. A Duel for Christmas by Rosanne E. Lortz
  36. Lady of a Thousand Treasures by Sandra Byrd
  37. Blog Book Tour | “Legacy of Mercy” (Book Two: Waves of Mercy) by Lynn Austin An #INSPY Historical Fiction, I had the pleasure of becoming introduced by the prequel “Waves of Mercy” ahead of reading the sequel on the blog tour!
  38. The Tory by T.J. London
  39. Blog Book Tour | “A Pivotal Right” (Book Two: Shaking the Tree series) by K.A. Servian with recollections and thoughts on behalf of (book one) “A Moral Compass”
  40. The Jinni's Last Wish by Zenobia Neil
  41. From Across the Room by Gina L. Mulligan
  42. Murder in Keswick by William Todd
  43. The War Between Us by Sarah Creviston Lee
  44. Once Upon A River by Diane Setterfield
  45. Starving Hearts by Janine Mendenhall
  46. Naughty On Ice by Maia Chance
  47. A Murder by Any Name by Suzanne M. Wolfe
  48. Mistress of Legend by Nicole Evelina

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70 Authors Challenge Badge created by Jorie via Canva. Photo Credit: Unsplash Photographer Brigitte Tohm. (Creative Commons Zero)

I started working on my reading list for this INSPY Fiction Challenge in [2013] however, I haven’t made much progress with my readings until now. I went conservative and approximated I’d read [210] novels by the authors I’ve chosen to read as some of their stories are short stories in anthologies and not every author will have five novels published. Therefore, I estimated I might be able to read [three] novels per each author on my List. I might read more by some of the authors or less if there are only a few published whilst I’m focusing on their back-list and front-list releases.

70 Authors Challenge

Host: Jorie Loves A Story (personal challenge)
My Summary Post
Progress: 4/210 (2%)
6 August, 2018 — 6 August, 2023
Failed

2

  1. A Reason to Stay by Kellie Coates Gilbert
  2. #SummerReads | Jorie endeavours to read a heap of #INSPY Lit (whilst consuming copious amounts of #AudioReads!) and re-tackles her #20BooksOfSummer challenge of [2017]!
  3. Sweet on You by Becky Wade
  4. The Fifth Avenue Story Society by Rachel Hauck

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I’m still sorting out what I want to do throughout [2018] in regards to RALs and Challenges overall – as I tried to participate in several during [2017] finding the hours ran out before I could address them properly. Therefore, this is an evolving list of the challenges I’ll be participating in as I am truly trying to focus on my main three interests this year: Classical Lit, INSPY Fiction and Historical Fiction. There will be a few overlaps between them, I am sure, however, these are the stories which interest me the most to focus on this year in-between the rest of the stories I’ll be drawn towards reading outside of these concentrations.

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Callahan Confidential series by Laura Scott Photography Credit: Jorie of jorielovesastory.com. Photo edits and collage created in Canva.

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#smallangryplanet RAL banner created by Jorie in Canva

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#ThanksgivingReadathon badge created by Jorie in Canva

#ThanksgivingReadathon TBR List badge created by Jorie in Canva. Photo Credit jorielovesastory.com

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#Mythothon banner created by Jorie in Canva. Photo Credit: Photo Credit: Unsplash Public Domain Photographer Cristina Gottardi

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#cloakanddaggerchristmas 2018

Host: Hosted by booktubers on #booktube
My Summary Post
Progress: 3/12 (25%)
1 December, 2018 — 31 December, 2018
Failed

25

#CloakAndDaggerChristmas badge created by Jorie in Canva

  1. Murder in Keswick by William Todd
  2. Deck the Hounds by David Rosenfelt
  3. Naughty On Ice by Maia Chance
  4. In Peppermint Peril by Joy Avon
  5. A Murder by Any Name by Suzanne M. Wolfe

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{SOURCES: Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. The Classics Club badge created by Jorie using Wildlife photography by Jorie of Jorie Loves A Story (© jorielovesastorycom), badge edited & created in PicMonkey. Heaven is a book & a cup of tea badge provided by Squeesome Designs. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: 2018 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge and my INSPY Fiction badge for my 70 Authors Challenge. As well as the #20BooksOfAutumn banner; Reading PERIL banner using Unsplash.com (Creative Commons Zero) Photography by Peter Lloyd; #20BooksOfWinter banner using Unsplash.com (Creative Commons Zero) Photography by Zoltan Tasi and #20BooksOfNonFic banner using Unsplash.com (Creative Commons Zero) Photography by Shangyou Shi and Annie Spratt.}

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