Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo Mid-Challenge Update

Update: Wrap up is posted!

Happy Hump Day!

I can't believe we're over half-way through July. I've been doing pretty good on my summer challenges and don't have too much left for the Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo. In case you missed my original tbr or haven't heard of it, let me do a quick info dump. Ribbed Bodice is the first romance only bookstore that is in California. For the past few years they've done a summer bingo challenge and you can enter up to to 5 times to win prizes! That's four different bingos and then blackout! To enter and learn more, check out their website! The challenge runs through August 31st, so you still have time to join if you'd like!

Above is the blank bingo board and below is where I'm currently at as of this morning. I have a couple ideas for the rest of the prompts and will list them below! I'll stick to the prompts that I have left and go over all my reads and the corresponding prompts during my wrap up.

🦩 The July book for the Ravished by Romance book club is A Promise of Fire by Amanda Bouchet. This would cover the circus prompt. I'm hoping to get to this in time for the book club meeting at the end of the month and is a series I've been intrigued by since I learned about it during FaRoFeb.

🦩 Another prompt I have narrowed down is demigods. I have in paperback a two novella bind up by Katie MacAlister called Ain't Myth-Behaving that I've been wanting to read since I found it used. Now's the time to finally get to it!

🦩 The last prompt I have narrowed down is triplets. I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with Offside by Juliana Stone which focuses on a heroine that is not only a triplet, but also a female hockey player! The other option I'm debating between is a new book I found yesterday, How to Seduce a Duke. It's part of a trilogy by Kathryn Caskie about triplet sisters and the first book has my favorite trope!

🦩 Defense Attorney is a prompt I have several ideas for that I also mentioned in my tbr. I ended up starting Overruled by Emma Chase last night!

🦩 For reality tv I'm still thinking of picking up one of Olivia Dade's Love Unscripted series. I was also intrigued by Single Dad Seeks Juliet by Max Monroe. I don't think it's about characters on a reality show, but it's definitely inspired by the Bachelor franchise. There's a couple other bachelor inspired romances I've recently added to my tbr as well that I might pick up.

🦩 Graphic novel is one that I can easily meet. I have a lot of options if I spread this prompt to include comics, manga, and/or webtoons. I have read all in the past but just need to make a decision either way. I'll probably pick back up my webtoon app. I follow quite a few stories on there, but tend to leave it sit for a month or so and then binge all the episodes updated. Others tend to read every week, but I like to sit and read more than one episode at a time. To qualify I would want to either read an entire series or for the longer running ones, one season.

🦩 The last prompt I have is protagonist that smells like bread. I'm still a little stumped on this one. I fee like I saw somewhere that Mad About Ewe by Susannah Nix and Sweethand by NG Peltier both have main characters that smell like bread. Mad About Ewe was already on my tbr and is about a yarn shop owner, so I'm slightly leaning more towards that one.

I've only got 7 prompts left so that should easily be doable by the end of August! As soon as I read my last book for blackout I'll post my wrap up. If you want to see what I'm reading as I go along, feel free to follow me on instagram. I've been posting any challenge updates as I read a book in my stories and also have all my challenges saved as highlights!

Are you participating in the Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

Romancing Summer Challenge - Mid-Challenge Update

Wrap up is posted!

Happy Sunday (and Father's Day and Summer Solstice)!

In May the Romancing Summer Challenge started and I posted a tbr(ish). It's about half-way through, so I wanted to do an update on how I'm sitting and what prompts I have left to finish on my board! The Romancing Summer Challenge is hosted on Instagram by ldornwrites, esther.reads, annareadshere, petite.bumblebeebooks, theromanticbibliotheca and mama.is.busy.reading!

Above is the blank board for reference. Below is where I'm currently sitting. I won't go over which books are where right now and save that for the wrap up (I'll link when it's up). Right now, I'll focus on what options or reads I have planned for the remaining prompts!

So I'm doing pretty good. A lot of my more current reads have doubled up on prompts already covered; Stolen Heir is the last read that covered a prompt not met yet. I only have 7 left to fill! I'll start at the top row and work my way down row by row.

🍦 Canadian Author: I have quite a few Canadian authors on my tbr. The one that sticks out most in my head is Jackie Lau. The third book in her Cider Bar Sisters series, The Professor Next Door, just came out and I want to get to it soon after recently starting the series. Another option at the top of my list would be Kelly Bowen. She writes mainly historical romance and I'm sure at least one of her books would fit the prompts for the next round of the Historical Romance Readathon later this month.

🍦 Animal on the Cover: There are a few options here. I have a few books left to get caught up in Jill Shalvis's Heartbreaker Bay series and the next one I have to read has a puppy on the cover (and stepback). I also recently added My Fair Lily by Meara Platt to my tbr. It's a historical romance that has a cute sheep dog. I also remember adding a historical romance series to my tbr a few months ago where the covers had the bottom of a dress and shoes with a kitten. After doing some digging and googling to figure it out, I finally found the series I was thinking of! It's Sally MacKenzie's Duchess of Love series! Although only book 1 has a kitten, the prequel and 2nd and 3rd books have puppies. There's also been quite a few newer contemporary releases with illustrated covers that have an animal on the front. Nothing in particular is speaking to me of these options at this point, but I'm leaning towards Sally MacKenzie.

🍦 Sports Romance: I recently found a tennis series on Instagram by Tracie Delaney called Wining Ace. I also usually reread one or more of Lia Riley's Hellions Angels series this time of year; they are my favorite hockey romance series. There's also been some rugby and football romances, as well as more hockey, I've recently added to my tbr. I do have to be honest though, most of the contemporary romances on my kindle are sports romances. I just have to buckle down and actually pick one.

🍦 Summer Release: Well, this is a fairly easy one to hit and I'll meet it at least once later this month. I mentioned above that Jackie Lau recently released her third Cider Bar Sisters book, so that would cover this prompt as well. I also mentioned in my Historical Romance Readathon tbr that there are at least 3 books coming out on June 29th that I have pre-ordered. I plan on getting to at least The Wrong Marquess that week. I also recently read Ruthless Creatures for the Mafia Romance Readathon and absolutely loved it (and already bought a paperback copy). The second book Carnal Urges is set to be released June 30th and it will be at the top of my list after the readathon ends on July 4th. There are quite a few more releases that came out earlier this month and in July and August on my tbr, but these are the ones I see myself reading first.

🍦 AAPI Author: As I mentioned above, Jackie Lau would once again cover this prompt. Another easily met option for this prompt is the group book for the Historical Romance Readathon, Olivia and the Masked Duke by Grace Callaway. I also was thinking, as mentioned in the same tbr, of finally trying Jeannie Lin's Tang Dynasty series for the readathon.

🍦 Food on the Cover: Once again my firth though is Jackie Lau. I've been wanting to reread her Baldwin Village trilogy and it's all based around food. Another series that pops into my head is Frankie Love's The Way to a Man's Heart, which is all food titled novellas. I know that I have more on my kindle, but those are what stick out the most right now.

🍦 Vacation Romance: Now this one is a little harder to for me to decide on. I don't read too many vacation romances since most of them are contemporary. I glanced through a vacation romance list on goodreads and looked for ones that I had marked as "to read." The only one that really stuck out was The Tourist Attraction by Sarah Morgenthaler. (It would also be a perfect option since it has snow on the cover which is a prompt for the Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo!) I'm sure there's other books on my tbr that I'm unaware are vacation romances.

So apparently I'll be going on a Jackie Lau binge. I do want to get through the rest of her backlist at some point. I only have 7 books and novellas left of hers, including her first traditionally published book set to release in October. I just don't get in the mood for contemporary romances too often. I also might keep an out for what other people are reading for a couple of these prompts to see if there's something that sounds good or that I was unaware would fit. It helps that a lot of these would also cover prompts in my other two summer challenges. I'm also super excited for the Historical Romance Readathon later this month and hopefully will get a few more of the prompts done. I'll for sure be able to get through quite a few reads. I'm hoping to get this challenge done by Mid-July so I can focus on the other challenges the rest of July and August, but we'll see where my mood reading takes me. I will post a wrap up once I've completed the challenge instead of waiting until it's over. Hopefully that will give ideas to anyone still working on theirs!

Are you participating in the Romancing Summer Challenge? If so, how are doing with the prompts?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎