What’s In A Name 2014 Finished

What’s In A Name 2014 hosted by The Worm Hole.

I have now finished this challenge. It has been fun and interesting to look for books that fit this challenge. It started with five categories but a new was added and I read 6 books.

List of books at the bottom of this post.

The basics

The challenge runs from January to December. During this time you choose a book to read from each of the following categories (examples of books you could choose are in brackets):

• A reference to time (Eleven Minutes, Before Ever After)
• A position of royalty (The People’s Queen, The Last Empress, The Curse Of The Pharaoh)
• A number written in letters (The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, A Tale Of Two Cities)
• A forename or names (Rebecca, Eleanor & Park, The Unfinished Work Of Elizabeth D.)
• A type or element of weather (Gone With The Wind, Red Earth Pouring Rain)
• A book with a school subject in the title. (And yes, that does mean you can get creative and use a magical academic subject if you wish – Hogwarts is a school, after all.) 

Remember the titles I’ve given here are only examples, you can by all means use them if you want to – some are classics after all – but it’s not necessary. There are plenty of other books that will fit the categories and you may have some in mind already or even some on your shelves you can read. I’ve been getting a lot of questions about whether there will be a sixth category – not this year. I realised too late after publishing the post that I hadn’t included a sixth, so as not to confuse everyone we’ll be sticking with five this time around.

Extra information

• Books can be any format (print, audio, ebook).
• It’s preferred that the books don’t overlap with other challenges, but not a requirement at all.
• Books cannot overlap categories (for instance my first example, Eleven Minutes, could be used for category 1 or 3 but not both).
• Creativity for matching the categories is not only allowed, it’s encouraged!
• You don’t have to make your list of books beforehand, you can choose them as you go.
• You don’t have to read your chosen books in any particular order.

List of books:

1. A reference to time: Forever Fae by L.P. Dover
2. A position of royalty: Death on the Aegean Queen By Maria Hudgins
3. A number written in letters: Honeymoon For One by Chris Keniston
4. A forename or names: John Macnab by John Buchan
5. A type or element of weather: After the Storm by M. Stratton
6. A school subjec: The Secret History by Donna Tartt

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they go beyond the boundaries of normal morality their lives are changed profoundly and forever, and they discover how hard it can be to truly live and how easy it is to kill. From Goodreads.

I am not sure what to think about this book. It is a murder / mystery but in the way that we are told right away who did it, then the next 620 pages tells why. Richard, the person, who is telling the story is part of a group of 6 college students who study Greek but as a newcomer he is also set apart from the group.
I didn't really like any of the characters in the book but it was still a strangely compelling read.

This book qualifies for:
I Love Library Books Reading Challenge 2014
What’s In A Name 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Romance Readers Reading Challenges: 2014 Chubby Chunkster
Crazy Challenge Connection - Bookshelf Battle Team Challenge #4
The Challenge Factory - R4: Team Challenge SSS
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet
Nothing but Reading Challenges - 50 States Challenge
Crazy Challenge Connection Scrabble, anyone?
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon

After the Storm by M. Stratton

Alexia "Lexi" Hanson moved across the country to rebuild her life after the attack that almost destroyed her. She enjoys the simple things in her beach cottage. Life is finally complete.
Noah Matthews is Rock & Roll's hottest star and on top of the world. After years without a break he finds the solitude he craves at his beach house. Enjoying his early morning coffee, Noah is surprised to see his neighbor sneak into his garden and crawl around.
They never saw that fateful morning coming. Someone was watching them. Someone who thought Lexi belonged to him and would stop at nothing to have her.
Lives are changed forever when they meet amongst the blooms in his garden. Even when things seem darkest, there is always light After the Storm. From Goodreads.





I liked the slow (compared to some others) romance between Lexi and Noah. What I didn't like was the detailed description of what the rapist wanted to do with his victims.
I will not continue this series.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
What’s In A Name 2014
2014 Read Your Freebies! Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection: 1000 Member Celebration!
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection - Sub-Genre Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (A-raven)
Nothing but Reading Challenges - 50 States Challenge
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon

Death on the Aegean Queen By Maria Hudgins

George Gaskill, a car salesman from Indiana, goes missing from the stern deck of the Aegean Queen leaving only a pool of blood and a strange note behind. Ollie Osgood, the husband of Dotsy Lamb's best friend Lettie, is the last person to have seen him and one of three men who lost a bundle to George in a Texas Hold'em Poker game. Then the ship's photographer turns up murdered on the beautiful island of Mykonos.
Dotsy wants only to unwind and to renew her promising relationship with Marco Quattrocchi, the Carabinieri captain she met in Italy three years ago, but since Ollie is the prime suspect in George's disappearance and Marco is embroiled in the photographer's murder, she can't.
The Aegean Queen is a ship with a theme--archaeology. Dotsy strikes up a friendship with the ship's guest lecturer, famous archaeologist, Dr. Luc Girard, and introduces him to the ship's klutziest dancer, Sophie Antonakos. With the help of Lettie Osgood's amazing powers of observation, Dotsy, Sophie, and Luc discover antiquities in the ship's display cases that have been looted from museums or smuggled from their homelands.
The trails of murder and theft converge on the island of Crete where Dotsy finds herself dodging bullets from the gun of a man she doesn't even know. From Goodreads.

This was a mystery and there was quite a lot going on but it was easy to follow. I like Dotsy's friend Lettie who remembers everything she has seen. It was a cosy, easy read. This was the third book in the series and I have not read the two first ones but it wasn't a problem.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Monthly Motif Reading Challenge
2014 Monthly Key Word Reading Challenge
2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge
What’s In A Name 2014
2014 Read Your Freebies! Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Romance Readers Reading Challenges: Yahtzee Challenge
Sequel Spring Reading Challenge
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (L-eagle)
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon
Spring into Horror Read-a-Thon 2014

Forever Fae by L.P. Dover

He leans down, lips parted, and then our lips connect... We didn’t know that this one kiss has FOREVER changed the Land of the Fae.
According to the Prophecy proclaimed many years ago, Princess Calista of the Summer Court is destined to change the Land of the Fae from the evil determined to destroy it. Her powers are phenomenal, and she secretly trains for battle with her handsome warrior friend, Merrick, who unbeknownst to her protects her heart as well, in hopes of keeping it for himself. At least, until the seductive Prince Ryder attends the Guardian Ceremony and instantly sends a fire burning through her veins and a connection so deep they both discover a love above anything imaginable.
No one knows how Calista is destined to change the kingdoms, but there is one that does. He not only craves Calista’s power, but her body as well, and his goal is to steal her power, make her his Dark Queen, and take over the Land of the Fae.
Will the evil succeed in claiming Calista’s soul? Or will the two men that fight for her heart save her from despair, and help her fulfill her destiny to become what she was meant to be. From Goodreads.

This was okay but no more than that. I like to read about the Fae and usually the Summer and Winter Courts are at each others throats but not here, so there is really only one enemy. The rest is two men wanting the same girl. It was very predictable and I don't think I will continue this series.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Monthly Motif Reading Challenge
2014 Monthly Key Word Reading Challenge
2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge (bought 4th of June 2013)
What’s In A Name 2014 (A reference to time)
2014 Women Challenge
2014 Read Your Freebies! Reading Challenge (free on Amazon.co.uk 4th of June 2013)
CCC A-Z Authors 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
The Challenge Factory Spell It Out - Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (L)
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (F-dragonfly)
Crazy Challenge Connection 2014 RaT #2
Dansk Readathon March 2014

Honeymoon For One by Chris Keniston

To escape local gossip, jilted bride Michelle Bradford embarks on her honeymoon cruise — alone. Coaxed by a thrill seeking hunk she never expects to see again, she slowly sheds her good girl persona to have some well deserved fun.
But unlike Vegas, what happens on the high seas doesn't always stay there. From Goodreads.

It is an okay romance. A short, quick read. Nothing special and no surprises.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Quick fix Challenge (180 pages)
What’s In A Name 2014 (number written in letters)
2014 Women Challenge
2014 Read Your Freebies! Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
The Challenge Factory Spell It Out - Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (C)
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (K-gecko)

John Macnab by John Buchan

In 1925, John Buchan published his second most famous novel, John Macnab; three high-flying men—a barrister, a cabinet minister and a banker—are suffering from boredom. They concoct a plan to cure it. They inform three Scottish estates that they will poach from each two stags and a salmon in a given time. They sign collectively as 'John McNab' and await the responses. This novel is a light interlude within the Leithen Stories series—an evocative look at the hunting, shooting and fishing lifestyle in Highland Scotland. From Goodreads.

I have lived in the Highlands of Scotland and I enjoyed reading about the area, the forest and especially the river. This is a fun light read, I like the young Fish Benjie.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
Scotland 2014
2014 Quick fix Challenge
Meet the Protagonist Reading Challenge 2014 (different country to mine)
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge (classic)
2014 Full House Reading Challenge (different country to mine)
2014 What An Animal Reading Challenge VII (poaching)
What’s In A Name 2014 (first name)
CCC A-Z Authors 2014
CCC A-Z Book Titles 2014
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (J-jellyfish)
Bout of Books 9.0

What’s In A Name 2014 Sign-Up

What’s In A Name 2014 hosted by The Worm Hole.

The basics

The challenge runs from January to December. During this time you choose a book to read from each of the following categories (examples of books you could choose are in brackets):

• A reference to time (Eleven Minutes, Before Ever After)
• A position of royalty (The People’s Queen, The Last Empress, The Curse Of The Pharaoh)
• A number written in letters (The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, A Tale Of Two Cities)
• A forename or names (Rebecca, Eleanor & Park, The Unfinished Work Of Elizabeth D.)
• A type or element of weather (Gone With The Wind, Red Earth Pouring Rain)

Remember the titles I’ve given here are only examples, you can by all means use them if you want to – some are classics after all – but it’s not necessary. There are plenty of other books that will fit the categories and you may have some in mind already or even some on your shelves you can read. I’ve been getting a lot of questions about whether there will be a sixth category – not this year. I realised too late after publishing the post that I hadn’t included a sixth, so as not to confuse everyone we’ll be sticking with five this time around.

Extra information

• Books can be any format (print, audio, ebook).
• It’s preferred that the books don’t overlap with other challenges, but not a requirement at all.
• Books cannot overlap categories (for instance my first example, Eleven Minutes, could be used for category 1 or 3 but not both).
• Creativity for matching the categories is not only allowed, it’s encouraged!
• You don’t have to make your list of books beforehand, you can choose them as you go.
• You don’t have to read your chosen books in any particular order.

Another interesting sounding reading challenge and I have a book for one of the categories already. My goal is to finish a book for each of the 5 categories.
Update: In February a sixth category was added: A book with a school subject in the title. And yes, that does mean you can get creative and use a magical academic subject if you wish – Hogwarts is a school, after all.

List of books:

1. A reference to time: Forever Fae by L.P. Dover
2. A position of royalty: Death on the Aegean Queen By Maria Hudgins
3. A number written in letters: Honeymoon For One by Chris Keniston
4. A forename or names: John Macnab by John Buchan
5. A type or element of weather: After the Storm by M. Stratton
6. A school subjec: The Secret History by Donna Tartt