One of the most exciting things about reading is joining a challenge.  This year, with three challenges across different genres, it’ll require more careful planning so the journey is enjoyable yet fulfilling.  Looking at the themes of the two major reading challenges I’ve signed up for, here’s the list I’ve drawn up:

Jan (Category Romances): Dear John by Nicholas Sparks

Feb  (hero in pursuit): How To Tame A Modern Rogue by Diana Holquist (also for Who Are You Again?)

Mar  (His­tor­i­cal romance or fic­tion or mystery):

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen – definitely can be entered for Older Than You

The Return from Troy by Lindsay Clarke

The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald – definitely can be entered for Older Than You

Apr (SFR or SF/F or fantasy):

Any of these could be entered under this category or the TBR category for 2010 or Up to You! category

Hades’ Daughter by Sara Douglass

The Firebrand by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Eldest by Christopher Paolini

Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik

Jun (YA fic­tion): could be read for the 2010 Challenge — The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

The theme for October’s TBR chal­lenge was a hor­ror book, which is a real challenge for me, as I’ve not picked up a horror book since V C Andrews nor watched a horror movie after Poltergeist 3 and Omen 3.

Ever since reading Keishon’s guest post at Borders True Romance blog, I had a craving for some mysteries, thrills and spills.  So as an alternative to horror, I decided to dedicate October to romantic suspense thrillers, and one of the authors I most wanted to try is Roxanne St. Claire. I was introduced to her when she guest blogged at True Romance, where she talked about her inspiration behind the hero in her latest Bullet Catcher book.

The synopsis of the series hint at an adrenaline-filled roller coaster ride with a melting pot of pulse racing intrigue, heart thumping action, in and out of bed. Boy, did Rocki deliver the goods. Well, since I started with book 4, First You Run , and realized that it’s a linked trilogy, I automatically bought Then You Hide and Now You Die, and enjoyed all three tremendously. Without further ado, here’s my review of the three books:

“I need to find a woman. I don’t know who she is or where she is. And when I find her, chances are I’m going to get her naked, rock her world, and then make her wish I were dead.” Bullet Catcher Adrien Fletcher (Fletch) told his boss, Lucy Sharpe, in First You Run .

With lines like that, how could you resist the rest of the book?

This month, we have to pick a new author or an author we’ve not read in a long time. Well, since I have two Judith McNaught books in my pile, and she’s almost new to me, these are my picks for September’s TBR Challenge – Remember When and Every Breath You Take.

Let’s start with Remember When. The main thing that drew me to the book was the synopsis at the back, which reads:

Alone on a moonlit balcony at Houston’s White Orchid Charity Ball, Diana Foster courageously upheld the sparkling image of her family’s Beautiful Living magazine. Recently jilted by her fiancé for an Italian heiress – an insult delivered via a sleazy tabloid – Diana was noe very publicly unengaged, and surrounded by humiliating rumours So why was billionaire Cole Harrison closing in on her with two crystal flutes and a bottle of champagne?

The former stableboy had received an ultimatum from his uncle: Cole must bring home a wife – soon – or lose his share of a booming multinational business. Coolly analytical and arrestingly attractive, Cole knew what he wanted in a bride, and Diana Foster – rich, beautiful, and a principled – fit the role perfectly. But while a long, slow kiss sealed the bargain that solved their dilemmas, neither imagined the extraordinary journey that would begin on that unforgettable night …

It took me quite a while but I finally finished reading Jane Austen’s Emmajust before I flew off for that family vacation.

Emma Woodhouse may be witty and imaginative, but she’s spoilt and snobbish to a certain extent, and so wasn’t easy to warm up to. There were quite a number of occasions when I felt like smacking her on the head for being so blind, self-centred and impetuous. I was quite disappointed with her for deliberately hurting the garrulous Miss Bates who, although she really annoys with her endless chatter and appears quite without any opinions of her own, is quite a harmless but kind-hearted spinster, with barbed comments about Bates’ talkativeness in a display of wits. Emma redeemed herself in my eyes when she expressed regrets over that uncalled-for attack and tried to make amends for it.

It wasn’t easy trying to guess Emma’s heart too. She’s so busy trying to match her new-found friend, Harriet Smith, with the available local gentry that she hardly knew what was in her heart. She never stopped to examine her feelings for her dear Mr Knightley until Harriet professed her love and admiration for him. Only then did she realise that she had been in love with him for quite a while and that he was the only man she’d marry.