“4 books ahead of schedule” – Goodreads~

As always I would like to start this post with several carrds that contain very important information about the injustices and resources to help.

• https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/ has a lot of information and resources and is updated regularly! It also has info on Palestine, the Junk Terror Bill and Hong Kong. This has been updated to include info and resources about the Yemen crisis.
• https://abolish-ice.carrd.co/ – In case anyone forgot there are still children and adults in cages in America. These people are being treated worse than animals and it needs to stop.
• You can also go to Change.org, most countries have their own petition site linked to their government or send emails and letters to your representatives.

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I made my tbr and plans post for the Kpop ReadAThon on the 6th of June… this year goes by so quickly, but feels so long at the same time. This ReadAThon was created by Noura over at theperksofbeingnourablog here on WP and her Twitter is @NunuKz (which is where there is a thread all about the prompts etc.)

I found the group aspect and prompts really fun, so I decided to complete them all! However long that takes me! The actual readathon dates were 15th June – 15th July~

The first team I picked was Monsta X! And, I finished 5 books during the ReadAThon (finishing the 6th and final the day after) and I’m so proud of myself! Before this I’d been in a slump for a few months and these challenges finally put me in the mood to read~

I would have liked to do more a more varied range of posts for this group, but as I don’t know them well and my ideas always seemed bad to me, I didn’t. However, I’m happy with the ones I did. I wanted to do a bias post, but these men are such bias wreckers! I’m leaning more to I.M. ♥ (It might be a SHINee situation where my ult is Onew, but they’re all my idiot children 😂).

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Wrap Up

FANTASIA: Stealing Thunder; Alina Boyden

• This fulfilled the prompt – Read a Fantasy Book
• Finished: 14.07.20
• ⭐⭐

Goodreads 2 stars is “it was ok” and honestly that pretty much sums stealing Thunder up. While I don’t know much about the accuracy or sensitivity of the cultural side of this book, it is own voices in that Alina Boyden is trans like the main character.

Stealing Thunder follows Razia – a woman who leaves her life as a prince to become a hijra (part of the transgender community) – and how her life is altered when she takes the fancy of a prince.

The premise is a lot more interesting than the execution, which was often repetitive. There was never a sense of urgency or suspense because everything pretty much always ended well or was easily wrapped up in a way that the “good” guys always came out on top. The fact that we spent the entire book being beat over the head with the idea that Razia’s father wanted her dead to get such an anti-climatic ending…

The setting is wonderful and the characters were actually well-written. The romance was heavy handed and pretty instant, but it was kinda cute. Another character can choke, I don’t appreciate the fact that it felt like we were meant to ‘not like, but kind of like’ a rapist.

Overall, this wasn’t a bad book, but it could have used more twists, actual suspense, and a third person narrative. I think that the 1st person took me out of the story more often than it should have. Also, I listened to the audiobook and the voice actor has a beautiful accent! I would highly recommend the audio over reading physically if you can.

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CHAOTIC: The Conference of the Birds; Ransom Riggs

• This fulfilled the prompt – Read a hyped or popular book
• Finished: 29.06.20
• ⭐⭐⭐

I took a liberty in that this book is part of the Miss Peregrine’s series which is super hyped and popular – at least it was on YouTube a while back.

I can’t say much about the plot as it is the 5th book! I will say that this wasn’t bad, but the plot was somewhat overshadowed by my eye rolling. Noor felt a little one dimensional and I hate that she has basically become an instant new love interest for Jacob. The plot concerning the prophecy is interesting and also the American clans etc. is pretty cool, but it was very all over the place. I would have liked more cohesion and structure. A lot of this felt rushed. A lot felt crammed into the 325 page book.

Bronwyn is still a queen and I love all my peculiar children… even Enoch haha~ and they’re pretty much the only reason this book didn’t get 2 stars from me. I much prefer the previous trilogy!

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BEAUTIFUL NIGHT: Smoke & Summons; Charlie N. Holmberg

• This fulfilled the prompt – Read a book at night
• Finished: 16.07.20
• ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (/4.5)

Another one I took a liberty with… I mean it was night time somewhere when I ended up reading it during the day… 😂

This was such an interesting and fast paced opener to a trilogy! Sandis is on the run after discovering her master wants to bring into the world a dangerous and evil demon. And to do so he needs someone to possess it.

The characters were great! I enjoyed both Sandis and Rone. The way they interacted was really beautiful as well. There was nothing forced about their growing friendship and potential romance. Sandis stays true to herself despite what she is forced to go through and her connections to the Numina is so intriguing. Rone is a lovable smartass and flawed in a way that made him very endearing.

The world building was less evolved than the characters, however, we learn a lot about the city and Dresberg is a more contained entity of its own. And the inclusion of the Lily Tower and religious figures was interesting considering what we learn about the setting.

I look forward to seeing what happens next and how the characters will grow considering the betrayal and twists of the last 50 pages or so!

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ZONE: Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America; ed. Ibi Zoboi

• This fulfilled the prompt – Read a book that’s out of your comfort zone
• Finished: 28.06.20

I don’t really like contemporary – in that I read for escapism – but this is a collection of stories about being young and black in America by black authors and they are voices that should be promoted, especially in the climate that we are living in right now.

My favourite story was Warning: Colour May Fade by Leah Henderson. It was incredible.

Others I enjoyed were:
Stop Playing; Liara Tamani
The Trouble With Drowning; Dhonielle Clayton
Hackathon Summers; Coe Booth
Into the Starlight; Nic Stone

Stories about Black joy should be as uplifted as those about their pain.

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IT AIN’T OVER: Beyond the Deepwoods; Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell

• This fulfilled the prompt – Read a book in an unfinished series
• Finished: 19.06.20
• ⭐⭐⭐.5

Again, a bit of a liberty was taken with this prompt. Technically, this series is completed, but I don’t trust these two men not to come out with another book in this world 😂

I wrote a review of this book on my blog, you can check it out here.

So, I’ll just give a mini rundown here:

This book is a children’s fantasy book (11+), yet it deals with a lot of mature topics, such as loss and abandonment. And, the authors never talked down to the reader.

The book does feel rather episodic from chapter to chapter – whereby the main character Twig would meet someone new, get himself into trouble and then escape or move on through his journey in the deepwoods – which meant I found myself warming up to Twig slower than I would have liked. However, the writing is wonderful and incredibly captivating and engaging. I learnt some new words and I love that!

And this is the book that really started lifting me out of my reading slump and got me more excited for reading through the other prompts.

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STAND UP: A Song of Wraiths and Ruin, Roseanne A. Brown

• This fulfilled the prompt – Diverse book
• Finished: 2.07.20
• ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

Karina is a princess who is willing to do anything to unlock an ancient magic to appease her grief and bring back a loved one from the dead. While Malik is a refugee willing to kill to get back his sister from the clutches of a vengeful spirit.

This was so beautifully written. The world is intricate and fascinating, while the characters are well written and thought out. Each character is flawed and by the end of the book is was wonderful to see how Karina and Malik used them to their advantages.

The West African inspired folklore and magic is weaved wonderfully through the plot. And what’s a fantasy without political intrigue. I would have liked this to be more explored and hopefully that happens in the sequel.

The thing that stopped me rating this book 5 stars was the romance… I wish it had been platonic. There was no chemistry and it felt so quick and forced, especially as both of our mains had more chemistry with other characters.

Overall, this was a fantastic debut novel and I’m very excited for the sequel!

I’m also imagining that in the sequel Malik and Idir are going to be like Voldemort and Quirrel in A Very Potter Musical 😂

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Rewards

So, in my tbr, I explained that I would reward myself… I was thinking maybe have £5 for each completed prompt… so I was sad and changed it to like £10 and then added a bit more 😂

This won’t be happening again (hopefully) and I will limit myself or maybe carry some over. I think furlough ends for me super soon so and I don’t know what’s happening next 😭

I did want to buy a Monsta X album, but the one’s I wanted are actually pretty expensive, which actually makes no sense considering I spent £70!…

I wasn’t in a book buying mood, so I bought 5 kpop albums~

• Roy Kim – 2nd album Home; 3rd Album The Great Dipper and Bloom (mini album). Roy Kim’s voice feels like home to me and does he have shitty choice in friends? yes. But he was found innocent of all involvement and I don’t think this is talked about enough.
• Jonghyun – She Is 1st full album.
• Key – I Wanna Be (repackage album)

I want to build up my SHINee collection, so every time I reward myself you’ll probably see them. I also tend to buy repackage versions of albums if they have one, just because I feel like they are more worth for my money.

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Did you take part in the Kpop ReadAThon? If so, how did you do?

Thank you for reading! I hope you’re having a lovely day and staying safe ♥