✨Been there, Dreamt that✨ - Book Buddies Reading Challenge

You will Buddy Read 2 books during the month.

Each book will be suggested by one person.

Make sure you’re picking books that are easily available.

Keep in mind your Book Bestie’s triggers (if they have any) & offer 2-3 choices.

Your Book Bestie will be someone from another team (again, we will do our best to ensure this but it’s not guaranteed)

Once grouped, one of you will post your Buddy Reading thread, and you will continue to post your comments and reviews in the thread.

Participation must be evident from both Besties in order to receive the special badge - this includes offering choices and discussions on what books you will be picking for the month, and deciding the pace of reading.

Note that the pace does not have to match. For e.g.: One buddy may read ahead and finish the book, while the other may be slower, but the point is for both to finish reading the book during the month.

Note that DNF books will NOT BE counted! So make sure you pick wisely.

You can, however, both decide to DNF and pick a different book instead. All in all, 2 books must be completed by both buddies to receive the badge. You can indicate in your log which books you completed as part of the Book Besties challenge.

Books and FFs are both allowed but make sure they are at least 250 pages long.

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Book buddies : Bee222 and DreamofEndless

Hey Tia, let's do this! I didn't see you list any preferences or triggers in the main thread so I guess we can start with that? What genre are you looking to read? Any particular book(s) you have in mind? 👀

For me, I'm good with most romances or thrillers, but I'm also kinda in a fantasy mood rn so tell me if you're open to that

Also, I made the team name on a whim it's a pun on our UNs if you couldn't tell. Let me know if you'd like to change it to something else

Originally posted by: Bee222

Hey Tia, let's do this! I didn't see you list any preferences or triggers in the main thread so I guess we can start with that? What genre are you looking to read? Any particular book(s) you have in mind? 👀

For me, I'm good with most romances or thrillers, but I'm also kinda in a fantasy mood rn so tell me if you're open to that

Also, I made the team name on a whim it's a pun on our UNs if you couldn't tell. Let me know if you'd like to change it to something else

Yayy, we are book besties! This is gonna be fun 🥳🎉

I love the team name 😍 Very apt. Remember when we came up with ‘To Bee or not to Bee’ when hosting Wordsleuths 😂

I don’t have any triggers, and I can read anything including ingredients on a perfume bottle 😂 About preferences, I do enjoy reading thrillers and dark comedy, as well as a sweet feel good book or something intensely emotional. So, I’ll say you can safely choose a book of your choice

I saw that you prefer mystery. Are you okay with murder mysteries? Like as long as they don’t go into graphic body horror.

Yayyy you're here!! I kept checking in all day yesterday to see if you'd stepped inside this thread yet

Ok, so for this month I was planning to start a series, and the ones I had in mind were The Inheritance Games, Prison Healer, Caraval, Powerless, Red Queen. Are you interested in any of them?

And these are the standalones I have my eyes on currently :-

In the Garden of Monsters - Crystal King

Sorcery of Thorns - Margaret Rogerson

The Spellshop - Sarah Beth Durst

My Lady Jane - Cynthia Hand

The Otherwhere Post - Emily J. Taylor

Song of the Six Realms - Judy I. Lin (I also have A Magic Steeped in Poison by her in my TBR; that's a duology)

Long Live Evil - Sarah Rees Brennan

Bonesmith - Nicki Pau Petro (this one's a duology too)

I also have a lot of shorter books in my TBR if you'd prefer that. I don't really refer to my lists anymore bcz they're all filled to the brim but it's definitely fun to go through them sometimes

I'm glad you like the team name, bcz I like it too 🙈🤭 And ofc I remember, our wordsleuths experience is what had me convinced we'd find common ground together for this challenge. Bcz we both read mysteries

I'm honestly up for any kind of mysteries or thrillers. I def love murder mysteries. Anything works as long as it's not too gory, I don't enjoy that stuff anymore. And if you have some sweet feel good books or something intensely emotional to rec, those are right up my alley too 😌 I am a lover of angst as long as it ends happy

Originally posted by: Bee222

Yayyy you're here!! I kept checking in all day yesterday to see if you'd stepped inside this thread yet

Ok, so for this month I was planning to start a series, and the ones I had in mind were The Inheritance Games, Prison Healer, Caraval, Powerless, Red Queen. Are you interested in any of them?

And these are the standalones I have my eyes on currently :-

In the Garden of Monsters - Crystal King

Sorcery of Thorns - Margaret Rogerson

The Spellshop - Sarah Beth Durst

My Lady Jane - Cynthia Hand

The Otherwhere Post - Emily J. Taylor

Song of the Six Realms - Judy I. Lin (I also have A Magic Steeped in Poison by her in my TBR; that's a duology)

Long Live Evil - Sarah Rees Brennan

Bonesmith - Nicki Pau Petro (this one's a duology too)

I also have a lot of shorter books in my TBR if you'd prefer that. I don't really refer to my lists anymore bcz they're all filled to the brim but it's definitely fun to go through them sometimes

That’s quite an interesting as well as an extensive list 🔥

For now, I’ll say let’s pick two books - the rules say each book suggested by one person - and then we’ll pick more depending on finishing the books (Please let me know if you DNF a book, so that we can buddy read another one 😅)

The Otherwhere Post by Emily J. Taylor looks interesting. For the second book, I suggest Her Many Faces by Nicci Cloke, Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto, or if you want to read something sweet - Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. Take your pick. If these don’t work for you, we could pick something entirely different.

Originally posted by: Bee222

I'm glad you like the team name, bcz I like it too 🙈🤭 And ofc I remember, our wordsleuths experience is what had me convinced we'd find common ground together for this challenge. Bcz we both read mysteries

I'm honestly up for any kind of mysteries or thrillers. I def love murder mysteries. Anything works as long as it's not too gory, I don't enjoy that stuff anymore. And if you have some sweet feel good books or something intensely emotional to rec, those are right up my alley too 😌 I am a lover of angst as long as it ends happy

Aww, I am happy we are paired as book buddies, Bee

I won’t say I enjoy reading gore, but they don’t trigger me anymore 🙈

I love a good angst fiction too. Happy endings give the angst a closure, so I prefer happy endings. Then there are novels like Gone With the Wind.. they are memorable for completely the opposite. Generally speaking, I do have a weakness for thriller and comedy genres.

Originally posted by: DreamOfEndless

That’s quite an interesting as well as an extensive list 🔥

For now, I’ll say let’s pick two books - the rules say each book suggested by one person - and then we’ll pick more depending on finishing the books (Please let me know if you DNF a book, so that we can buddy read another one 😅)

The Otherwhere Post by Emily J. Taylor looks interesting. For the second book, I suggest Her Many Faces by Nicci Cloke, Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto, or if you want to read something sweet - Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. Take your pick

Cool, The Otherwhere Post ko lock kiya jaata hai 😌 And ofc I will let you know if I DNF. We should DNF early if we feel the book isn't working (for either of us), so that we can get started on a substitute asap

Both of those books sound interesting Tia. For now, I'm choosing Her Many Faces by Nicci Cloke. But I'm very much a mood reader so I might wanna pick the other one a few days later 🙈 Does that work for you? If I make up my mind on the spot?

Lol Anne of Green Gables is practically a ritual read for me I read it every 2-3 years, it's one of my favourite books and also the one I go to for comfort ❤️❤️ but I just read it for the first month of the Reading Challenge, that was in April? I think? So it's too soon for a reread, nahi to I'd have picked it in a heartbeat

Do you think we should try to read a classic? 🤔 Jane Austen? Mansfield Park and Northanger Abbey are my favourites from her. Wbu?

Originally posted by: DreamOfEndless

Aww, I am happy we are paired as reading besties, Bee

I won’t say I enjoy reading gore, but they don’t trigger me anymore 🙈

I love a good angst fiction too. Happy endings give the angst a closure, so I prefer happy endings. Then there are novels like Gone With the Wind.. they are memorable for completely the opposite.

So you and I followed the opposite trajectory huh? You went from affected to unaffected, and I went reverse lol

Oh, Gone with the Wind is such a good one though, despite that ending 💔 it's one of those books that keep me hoping for a sequel or at least a few more chapters, just anything more from the characters. I was so frustrated when I read it back then, bcz after going on such a long journey with these character(s) we don't even get the closure. After the emotions settled, I could see that was probably the best way the author could've left it, and also why it's such a classic. But I still wanted more 😪 Still do, in fact.

Hmm, maybe I'll check out some fics 👀

Originally posted by: Bee222

Cool, The Otherwhere Post ko lock kiya jaata hai 😌 And ofc I will let you know if I DNF. We should DNF early if we feel the book isn't working (for either of us), so that we can get started on a substitute asap

Bilkul! Lock kiya Jaye.

Both of those books sound interesting Tia. For now, I'm choosing Her Many Faces by Nicci Cloke. But I'm very much a mood reader so I might wanna pick the other one a few days later 🙈 Does that work for you? If I make up my mind on the spot?

Haha, sure. The more books, the merrier Just give me a heads up when your mood and book choice changes. (same applies to me)

Lol Anne of Green Gables is practically a ritual read for me I read it every 2-3 years, it's one of my favourite books and also the one I go to for comfort ❤️❤️ but I just read it for the first month of the Reading Challenge, that was in April? I think? So it's too soon for a reread, nahi to I'd have picked it in a heartbeat

Did I accidentally choose one of your all time favorites? ❤️

Do you think we should try to read a classic? 🤔 Jane Austen? Mansfield Park and Northanger Abbey are my favourites from her. Wbu?

Classics.. Sure, I love classics. Northanger Abbey sounds good. For another one, what about Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier?

Replied above in blue.

Books finalized so far: The Otherwhere Post by Emily J. Taylor, Her Many Faces by Nicci Cloke.