A Late TBR 📚 Magical Readathon

It’s been a long time since my last post but life, work & reading slumps have been kicking my arse. I have been having the urge to blog & read lately though, so I’m going to take a step and make a post. Going for an easy one to start off with and one that is slightly late considering I’m writing this half way through the Magical Readathon. Better late than never! Let’s jump in.

Firstly, I didn’t participate in the Spring Equinox portion of the ReadAThon earlier in the year. I wanted to do this portion but I also wanted to allow myself to be flexible and not push myself too hard and ruin my recent reading streak. So I am completing both the Spring & Autumn portions of the ReadAThon across August & September. I mostly completed the books for the Spring portion in August, but one book for the Autumn portion I did complete in August as that’s when it came available on Libby. I will talk more about that in the Wrap Up post though, for now, here is my TBR!

Spring Equinox

My goal for the 2024 Magical ReadAThon was to become a Beast Master

Elemental Studies:

The challenge for Elemental Studies is to read a book with a Source of Light on the cover. For this one I chose Edge of Collapse by Kyla Stone. This is the first book in a Dystopian Thriller trilogy set during the coldest winter on record where an EMP destroys the nations power supply. For most people this threw everything into chaos but for our MC this meant that the doors that have kept her captive for the last 5 years are finally unlocked.

Animal Studies:

The challenge for Animal Studies is to read a book with a Yellow Title on the cover. I chose The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown. The title is kinda more gold that Yellow, but oh well. Close enough. The Book of Doors is a Magical Realism/Contemporary Fantasy book following Cassie who works at a Bookshop Cafe. Over her time working there she has become friendly with an older gentleman who often frequents the Bookshop Cafe. Our story starts when this gentleman unfortunately passes away right in the book shop and leaves behind a book with a note to her in it. She soon discovers that this is no ordinary book.

Alchemy:

The challenge for Alchemy is to read a book with a Circle on the Cover. This one is a bit of a long shit but I chose Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury with the two overlapping Os in the title being the circles in question. Blood Like Magic is a YA LGBT+ Dark Urban Fantasy. In this world, young witches receive their calling from the ancestors in the form of a task or challenge. For our MC though she failed her task. The ancestor decided to give her a second chance though. This task was not what she was expecting though and comes with a price. If she fails to Destroy her First Love her whole family will lose their magic.

Restoration:

The challenge for Restoration is to read a book that you think could cure a reading slump. As I was in a reading slump at the time, this challenge was a bit closer to home than usual. I decided to go with Collide by Bal Khabra which is a Sports Romance. I went this direction as I needed something light, fun and easy to read.

I didn’t want anything too deep or too long. Collide came available on Libby just before I decided to do this ReadAThon as well, so that worked out perfectly. An ultimatum from our MCs thesis advisor throws her into an unexpected collision with the hockey team’s captain. She’s caught between conflicting desires of fulfilling her lifelong dream of becoming a sport psychologist and staying as far away as possible from the sport.

Lore:

The challenge for Lore is to Reread the Legend of Dia. This was an easy challenge as this is literally 1 page of Lore from Orillium.

Autumn Equinox

For those that may not know, I am just going to explain this part quickly, if you’re familiar with the ReadAThon, feel free to skip ahead.

For the Autumn Equinox you must receive a certain grade in each class. In order to receive that grade you must complete the challenge for that grade as well as the challenges for the grades below it. The order of the grades is:
O for Ordinary
Q for Qualified
D for Distinguished
So, if I needed a D in one of the classes I would have to complete the O, Q & D challenges for that class. If I needed a Q I would need to complete O & Q. With that in mind, let’s jump into the TBR.

Elemental Studies:

I only need an O in Elemental Studies and that challenge is Favourite Scent in Cover/Title/Author Name. For this I chose The Librarian of Burned Books. Is my favourite FAVOURITE scent Books? No. But trying to find ‘Honeydew’ in a title or on a cover of a book turned out to be quite difficult. I did find a couple but they were not easy to get a hold of, so Books it is. The Librarian of Burned Books is a dual timeline LGBT+ Historical Fiction based on the true story of the Council of Books in Wartime. This one jumps between 3 timelines in 3 different locations. Berlin in 1933 where Althea, fresh off the release of her Debut novel is invited to participate in a Cultural Exchange where she will be funded to move from America to Berlin. She arrives excited to experience Berlin, especially under the new Chancellor. She soon meets a stunning woman who shows her the real Berlin and she is thrown into the midst of the resisters where she starts questioning everything she knows. Next is Paris 1936 where we follow Hannah after her escape from Berlin. She believed Paris would be safer but she soon realises that the evil has followed her. Hannah throws herself into her work at The Library of Burned Books. She believes she can help counter the tide of fascism through books though one in her group decides that actions will speak louder than words and Hannah must decide what stories she is willing to live or die for. Lastly we follow Vivian in New York in 1944 where she has been fighting her own war ever since her husband was killed fighting the Nazis. Vivian is trying to prevent the censorship of the books that are sent to the soldiers in the Armed Services Editions program. The Senators propaganda would affect the books able to be sent and Vivian knows how much these books mean to the soldiers by the letters they send. In a twist Vivian, Hannah & Althea come to together and everything is changed forever.

Animal Studies:

I need a D in this class so I have three books to read.

For O in Animal Studies I need to read a book with a Phoenix on cover or in the title. I chose The Phoenix Keeper by S.A. MacLean as long as my Libby Hold becomes available in time haha. I do have this physically but I’m not sure I’m up to reading a near 500 page book physically at the moment. The Phoenix Keeper is a LGBT+ Fantasy. Now, I honestly don’t know what this is about as all I read was the following quote and I was sold.

Against an epic fantasy backdrop teeming with all your favorite magical beasts from dragons and unicorns to kelpies and krakens, The Phoenix Keeper combines the fierce joy of cozy fantasy kings TJ Klune and Travis Baldree with the soul-restoring romance of queer icons Alice Oseman and Casey McQuiston.

For the Q in Animal Studies I need to read a Standalone Book. For this I have chose The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson which is a Ya Horror Thriller. I have read Tiffany D. Jackson’s other YA Horror Thriller, White Smoke and really enjoyed it, so I have been looking forward to picking this one up. Especially leading into the spooky season. The Weight of Blood follows Maddy, who is the target of bullies at her school. Things get even worse when her classmates discover that she is not actually white, like she has been passing as, she is actually biracial. To tackle the bullying the Student Leaders decides to hold its first Integrated Prom to attempt to better their image. The bullies aren’t finished with her yet though. Maddy has a secret though, one that could cost them their lives.

For the D in Animal Studies I need to read a book that has had a cover change. This one was a bit challenging to find, but I was scrolling Everand and saw Murder on the Mystery Tour which was published in 1985 and I thought surely what I’m seeing on Everand (on the left) isn’t the original cover. Turns out I was correct. I searched it on StoryGraph and was presented with this green atrocity (middle)… I also found another cover for the audiobook (on the Right). Luckily I saw it as the cover on the left as I would have scrolled straight past if present with the middle cover. I don’t know anything about this book, it looked like a cozy mystery too me and the cover notes that it was an Agatha Award-Winning Author, so I added to the TBR. I don’t like knowing the synopsis of mysterys so I’ll just be jumping in blind.

Alchemy:

I need an O in Alchemy and for that I need to read a book that will make you emotional. This one had been sitting on my TBR for a while and I finally committed to it. I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy needs no introduction. This is an obvious one for this challenge. Whether the emotion will be sad, shocked, angry or anything in between, it will definitely hit the nail on the head for this challenge.

Restoration:

I need a Q in Restoration so there will be 2 books to read for this class.

For O in Restoration I need to read a book with the Night Sky on the Cover and I honestly thought this would be the easiest book to choose. Turns out I was wrong. I just thought to myself I would scroll my saved book sin Everand and whatever the first one is with a night sky I would read. Why do none of them have night skies!?!?! Anyway, I finally chose Extasia by Claire Legrand. I’m not sure if this was exactly my best decision as I have a love hate relationship with Claire Legrand. One of her books I have DNFd but another got 4.5 stars. So I don’t know. Extasia is a YA LGBT+ Horror Fantasy and I have no clue what it’s about. I read the synopsis and I’m still lost haha. All I know is she will become one of the four saints of Haven and rid her family of the shame from something her mother did.

Lastly! Q in Restoration which requires you to read a book with the name of a Planet in the Title. This was a hard one but I finally chose The Sword of Jupiter by Travis Starnes which is a Sci-Fi. This follows Ky who during a test flight for a new light craft is flung into the past. In this past Rome has fallen to a mighty empire & the survivors have been forced to flee. Ky must navigate how to survive in the past after losing everything he has ever known except the tactical AI Implant he has.

Well that’s my TBR for August & September. Hopefully I can keep up my reading. As of writing this I read 3 books in August & 5 books so far in September. So things are looking up!

Are you participating in the Autumn Equinox of Magical ReadAThon? If so, let me know what Career you are aiming for! If not, let me know your current read or your thoughts on any of the books on my TBR!