Last week, Harlequin sent bloggers an email letting us know about the Harlequin reading challenge. If readers read and blog about 100,000 books in 2008, Harlequin will donate 100,000 books to the National Center for Family Literacy, a donation valued at approximately $700,000.00 US.
In the comments, many expressed a desire to participate. Here are the rules:
- You must sign up for an account at Harlequin.
- One half of the books you read/blog about must be Harlequin books.
- The books, both the Harlequin books and books by other publishers, can be of any publication date.
- You can review/blog about a book no matter the format: e-format, audio format, printed format.
I am going to do this and Robin aka Janet has agreed. I am sure that Jayne won’t mind me re-posting her reviews (she does alot of NEXT reviews). We can blog as a team merely by putting the team name in the “tags” area.
I also will open a special page here at Dear Author that will republish all the reviews that are posted under the team name. It will be updated on a weekly basis.
So all we need to do is a) pick a name and b) start reading and blogging. Drop your name suggestion in the comments. We thought it would be fun to pick something that would be a riff on the Harlequin Presents’ title. The poster who suggests the winning title as picked by the DA group will win a $10 Fictionwise gift certificate and we will also give away a $10 Fictionwise GC to a random commenter who pledges to participate in this challenge.
I joined the challenge last week and put up a couple of reveiws already but I can edit those tags to include a group name. I read about 5 books a week, so count me in! :) As for a name, I was looking at the some of those presents titles and I give up on mirroring one of those. But I like “Romantic Reading Renegades” or the RRR for short!
Presents? For Me?
Name suggestions? Hmmm … how about these (some of which are admittedly lame):
Read, Review, Repeat
Dear Harlequin
Reading for Pleasure
Rising to the Challenge
The Harlequin Affair
Well somebody’s got step up where the shrub fell down. Count me in.
What happens if–more like, when–two or more people read the same book?
Don’t forget my Harlequin Historicals too. And I’ve done some Blazes and Intrigues and Bombshells and Superromances…..
Come on people! It’s free books to teach the joy of reading.
I like ‘Dear Harlequin’ like Jennifer suggested. :)
I like “The Harlequin Affair,” or “Dear Harlequin.” I think we can add Teach Me Tonight to the list–I’ve got one Harlequin commentary in Drafts that I just haven’t finished.
I signed up.
The Billionaire’s Virgin Bloggers
The Tycoon’s Defiant Readers
Blackmailed Into His Books
I’m going to re-enter my totally cheesy title suggestions:
The Billionaire’s Secret Babes.
At least I think that’s what it was, lol.
Maybe Jane could re-post my reviews of Megan Hart’s Spice books and Anne Stuart’s books if MIRA counts too. Oh, and my review of Seidel’s Don’t Forget to Smile. That was published by a Harlequin imprint too, though it’s an older book. Are reviews of older books accepted?
lol! I love that.
I like Dear Harlequin. And I signed up. I read so much; I may as well do some good with it.
How about
The DA Reader’s Literary Love Affair
Blackmailed Reviews
Bah, this is hard.
But I’ll play.
Do HQN single titles count? I glommed a bunch of Mallery titles in a bundle a while back — the Buchanans I believe the series was called. I never reviewed any of them, while I enjoyed them a lot, so that’s four books right there.
Ann, looks like HQNs count since they’re in the drop-down menu.
I’ve already got my blog there and have reviewed one whole book for the year, LOL, so I’m in.
I like “The Billionaire’s Secret Babes” too.
Sure, when they have a Gay Romance category I will support them.
Till then, they do not want my business… fuck em.
I’m a lurker, but I’d like to participate. I’ve just signed up on eHarlequin.
Hmm… that’s odd. I already have a Harlequin account.
Weird.
I’m in. I’ve been reading a ton of Harlequins these days, so I may as well put that to good use! I’ll go sign up …
I like Dear Harlequin.
How about Harley Quinn Dears
I am a lurker, too, and not the most fervent reviewer, but I sure would like to contribute some reviews now and then. Meljean, I absolutely LOVE your suggestions, especially Blackmailed Into His Books.
Here are my brainstorming results_
The Billionaire’s Reading Mistresses
The Sheikh’s Avid Readers
The Billionaire’s Forbidden Readers
The Sicilian’s Virgin Readers
Pregnant With His Books (ROFL)
Bedded For Books
I’m in. I’ve read at least 30 Harlequins since the beginning of the year (I’m anally retentive about keeping a list of all the books I’ve read). I’ll start writing those reviews and will pos them when we have a team name.
My suggestion for a team name: The Billionaire Sheikh’s Secretaries
Assuming I can ever wrap up the “homework” reading I have to do (long story – I’m moderating a romance novel panel in April), I’m in. And for a name – I still like The Virgin Secretaries although Janine’s Billionaire’s Secret Babes is pretty darn good…..
I haven’t read a Harlequin, other than Brenda Jackson in a coon’s age. I suppose I can pick some up at the UBS, I’ve got plenty of credit there. If non-fiction counts, sign me up.
Nooooooooo! My wallet (and bookshelves) would collapse. I spend more on books each month than I do on groceries. I’m tired of yakisoba.
Even though I won’t be participating in this challenge, I think Jennifer’s team name suggestion of Dear Harlequin is perfect.
Bought by Harlequin
Bought for her Brain
Harlequin’s 100,000 Babes
We sign up/post reviews as individuals, or as a group? I feel dumb because I don’t get it.
I’m in! I suck at names and titles, though.
I’m with Jill Sorenson… each of us has go get an eHarlequin ‘blog’ account, and post reviews to it, but can ‘tag’ the reviews for the team? Or do we simply give Jane permission to repost our reviews to the team blog?
(I refuse to feel dumb)
Let me email Harlequin and find out if it is okay to post reviews for others. i would think that as long as we maintain the 1:1 ratio of Harlequin to other reviews, we would be okay.
Although I’m not entirely sure how this works (I’m with Jill and azteclady), I can offer some reviews.
According to Harlequin, if I give out my username and password for my account, you all can use it but otherwise you should open your own account. The link is in the blog post.
If you do sign up, though, you’ll get a 10% MONTHLY discount.
It would be great if Harlequin could allow users to assign their accounts to “teams.” Part of their promotion could include graphs on team stats (think Folding@Home).
[...] challenge group name. Robin picked it so we are giving away two GCs to random commenters from the previous post. Ann Bruce and Whey are the winners of our Fictionwise GCs. Please send me an email with the email [...]