March Wrap-Up
March has flown by and it’s now time for me to wrap up all the things I read for Realm-a-Thon – the month long read-a-thon created by Cassidy (CoverswithCassidy).
We entered Carrion City, where four families – The Stingers; The Ravens; The Monarch; The Raves – are vying for domination.
Instead of setting my cap for one family, I decided to just mood read and then randomly assign a family to that book and then randomly decide if the points are to protect/grow or attack. Any maths errors are solely my fault, but fingers crossed I added and subtracted correctly.
I really enjoy the concept of Realm-a-Thon and the month was full of reading sprints which meant I got introduced to a lot of new bookish content creators!
Spy X Family: Volume 5; Tatsuya Endo (translator: Casey Loe)
rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Starting off with the Monarchs, I read the 5th volume of Spy x Family. This was a super cute addition to the story, but there wasn’t enough plot or character development for my liking. I enjoyed seeing Yor try to integrate herself more in her ‘wife’ role and the dynamic between her and her brother was, once again, odd to see. Anya continues to be adorable and I love her little friends!
The Monarchs secure a good +47 points. Spy x Family vol. 5 hits both team prompts (+20): ‘a book with politics’ and ‘a book set in a made up place’.
It easily collects the +10 points for ‘urban setting’, but as it’s under 201 pages (just…) it doesn’t get any page points.
Spy x Family vol.5 gets points for having sibling characters (+5); having a title – ‘Spy’ – in the title (+4); for being a fast paced read (+3); having many morally grey characters (+3) and many wealthy characters (+2) as Anya goes to a school renowned for being attended by the children of incredibly powerful and rich people.
Lumberjanes, Vol. 1: Beware the Kitten Holy; Grace Ellis, ND Stevenson, Shannon Watters and Gus A. Allen
rating: ⭐⭐
I really went into Lumberjanes, Vol 1. thinking I would love this. Unfortunately, I found the plot boring, despite so much nonsense happening at this summer camp. The characters were interesting and there were dynamics that I could see being fun to explore more, but there just wasn’t enough substance for me to want to continue.
For this book, the Stags are attacking the Monarchs!
Unfortunately for them Lumberjanes Vol.1 was not what this read-a-thon had in mind. It hits none of the team prompts, is set in the total opposite of ‘urban setting’ and is too short for any page points.
Books are allowed a maximum of 5 prompts (not including team prompts), but for Lumberjanes, only four apply. It attacked by having all vowels in the title and author names (-5); having an author that uses an initial – both Stevenson and Allen (-4); the title being under the author names (-4) and the title font being a dark colour (-3).
Spy X Family: Volume 6; Tatsuya Endo (translator: Casey Loe)
rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The next volume of Spy x Family is being used by the Ravens to gain power. I’m not overly a fan of tennis, but I was invested in Loid’s mission with Nightfall. The politics was interesting and it was fun to see Loid in comparison to another spy, especially as there is clear development in his character since creating the Forger family.
The Ravens secure +40 points and half of these are from hitting one of the team prompts: ‘a character hiding a secret’ (+10) and the urban setting (+10).
Again, this volume doesn’t get any page points (again by one page!).
Spy x Family, Vol 6. has four of the same prompts I used previously for volume 5. However, as I rated this 4⭐, I could use the prompt of the current read being rated higher than my previous (+5).
Victorian Psycho; Virginia Feito
rating: ⭐⭐⭐.5
I was so excited for this book, you don’t understand. As soon as I saw it on one of those little Waterstones tables, I had to have it! The book follows a woman in the Victorian era, who becomes a Governess for two small children at a manor house. This woman is unhinged. Truly unhinged and some of the things I read in this book will never leave my mind. Unfortunately, this should have been longer so that we could have had more insight into our main character. There was so much that could have been unpacked further.
Despite how excited I was for this book, unfortunately for the Stingers, it didn’t hit either of the team prompts. Nor did it have an urban setting.
However, it’s finally the first book I read in March that got page points!(+20)
Victorian Psycho got points for having sibling characters (+5); for having a title in the title (+4), which I know I’m really stretching for this book; for being a fast paced read (+3); for having a wealthy character (+2) and being new to my TBR (+1).
Pride and Prejudice; Jane Austen
rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
To offset any possibility of a reading slump, I picked up Pride and Prejudice ♥ I will always adore this book and I love returning to Longbourn to go on walks, gossip and fall in love with Mr Darcy.
Pride and Prejudice came out swinging for the Monarchs! It hit both team prompts (+20): ‘book with politics’ and ‘set up in a made up place’. Despite Meryton feeling so real, it’s only based on places in England and isn’t real. Plus class politics are still politics.
It also got +40 page points!
Pride and Prejudice got points for having a higher rating than my last read (+5); having sibling characters (+5); having multiple people on the cover (+4); having a favourite trope (+3) – I love the dislike to love and also ‘he fell first’ does make me a little feral; lastly, it gets points for having wealthy characters (+2).
The Summoning; Kelley Armstrong
rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I’ve done quite a few re-reads this year and I had such a strong urge to read the Darkest Powers Trilogy, starting with The Summoning. I enjoyed being back at Lyle House and seeing Chloe explore her powers and learn more about the supernatural world that is being hidden from her in the rehab group home. It’s not perfect and quite a few characters are not well developed, but it’s such a fun time!
Another big scorer, The Summoning hit both of the Stinger team prompts (+20): ‘author you’ve read from before’ and ‘your next book boyfriend’.
It has an ‘urban setting’ (+10) and has +20 page points.
The Summoning got points for having sibling characters (+5); having an even number of letters in the title (+4); for being a fast paced read (+3); having a favourite trope (+3) – again, I love dislike to love and, as someone who has no talents, the idea of finding out you’re special speaks to my soul; and Chloe gets points for being a wealthy character (+2).
Return to the DallerGut Dream Department Store; Miye Lee (translator: Sandy Joosun Lee)
rating: ⭐⭐⭐.75
While I thought the first book in this series was just okay, I was really looking forward to this sequel. I think Penny is a bit of dull main character, but the dream world is so interesting and I had fun learning more about the different elements and systems in the sequel. I found the dreamers that Penny and her friends helped in this book were more impactful than I remember the ones in book one being.
The Ravens used this book to attack the Stingers. It met one of the team prompts (-10): ‘a book with a character hiding a secret’.
It then got -10 points for having an urban setting and -20 page points.
The Return to the DallerGut Dream Department Store only met four prompts. It got points for including all the vowels in the title/author name (-5); having some alliteration (-4); being a book I own physically (-1) and I listened to the audiobook (-1).
The Awakening; Kelley Armstrong
rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
The Awakening is my favourite book in the Darkest Powers trilogy! I love Chloe and Derek’s personal growth, but also the way their relationship grows. This book is somewhat repetitive, and has similar plot points to book one just in different locations, but I love it.
The Monarchs are using The Awakening to attack the Ravens.
It didn’t meet any of the team prompts, but it has an ‘urban setting’ (-10) and got -20 page points.
For the negative points, I was only able to apply four prompts. It earnt points for having a two word title (-3); having a character with a criminal background (-2); being on my physical shelves (-1) and for being a 5⭐ prediction (-1). I really thought I would give this 5⭐, but not even my nostalgia could push the rating past 4.5⭐.
The Reckoning; Kelley Armstrong
rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
After finishing The Awakening, I went straight into the third book in the Darkest Powers Trilogy. The Reckoning, again, hits a lot of the same plot points we saw in the previous books. I enjoyed that we saw more adult supernaturals and the differences in their powers to our main characters, but I do find the ending lacklustre.
The Ravens are fighting back against the Monarchs!
The Reckoning meets one of the team prompts (-10): ‘a book with a character hiding a secret’. It has an urban setting (-10) and has -20 page points.
Again, I was only able to get four prompts for The Reckoning. It got attack points for having a two word title (-3); having a violent word in the title (-2); for having characters with a criminal background (-2) and for being a book I own physically (-1).
Because of Miss Bridgerton; Julia Quinn
rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I genuinely think that this is my favourite Julia Quinn book that I’ve read so far. The romance feels quite rushed, but I enjoyed that the characters took the time to really think about and embrace their feelings. Billie was wonderful and seeing past that ‘heir to the earldom’ persona of George’s was lovely to see. Because of Miss Bridgerton was so much fun ♥
I loved this book so much that those trees in the background are counting as the team prompt of: ‘plants on the cover’ (+10).
Unfortunately, this is set in a small village in Kent, and only briefly takes us to London, so I didn’t count it for ‘urban setting’. It got +20 page points.
Because of Miss Bridgerton got points for me rating it higher than my previous read (+5); having sibling characters (+5); being a fast paced read (+3); having one of my favourite trope – again I like ‘dislike to love’ and ‘he fell first’ (+3); lastly, this book has wealthy characters (+2) because of course it does, we’re in Regency England and we’ve got ourselves a future Earl on our hands.
With Love from the Morisaki Bookshop; Satoshi Yagisawa (translator: Eric Ozawa)
rating: ⭐⭐⭐
With Love from the Morisaki Bookshop is a bind up of ‘Days at the Morisaki Bookshop’ (2.5⭐) and ‘More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop’ (3.5⭐). I was really looking forward to this collection as I’ve heard amazing things and the premise of a young woman finding refuge in this second-hand bookshop sounded wonderful. Unfortunately, the timeline was rushed and it didn’t feel like we were able to really get to know the people we were reading about. The translation was well done, but it felt like there was too much distance. It was also quite boring.
Considering how this is two books in one, it didn’t get as many points as I would have expected.
Unfortunately, it met none of the team prompts. It’s set in Tokyo, so easily took those ‘urban setting’ points (+10) and as it was the two books together it pushed it into page points territory (+20).
I could only get three prompts for With Love From the Morisaki Bookshop and two are very low scoring ones. It got points for having multiple people on the cover (+4 and yes I’m counting the shadows, there are also two people on the back cover); for being a relatively new addition to my TBR (+1) and for having ‘the’ in the title but it isn’t the first word (+1).
The Complete Darkest Powers Tales; Kelley Armstrong
rating: ⭐⭐.75
I went into this with high hopes and I came out of it thinking that maybe my girl Kelley Armstrong shouldn’t write short stories. Some were good, others were fine, but I was mostly bored. I think the problem with this short story collection is that if she had fleshed out the actual series more, then this wouldn’t have been needed. There’s not much development of any of the characters, and we don’t learn a whole lot more information. It screams wasted potential. I also dislike the second trilogy in this series (The Darkness Rising) so having some inclusions of that felt unnecessary, again because we didn’t learn anything new.
Despite me not having the best time, this short story collection came through for the Ravens. It ticked off one of the team prompts: ‘a character hiding a secret’ (+10) and had an ‘urban setting’ (+10).
Being over 400 pages, it got the +40 pages points bonus.
The Complete Darkest Tales got points for the Ravens by having sibling characters (+5); having multiple people on the cover (+4 – those are two people just one in wolf form, come at me); having a wealthy character (+2); having more than one POV (+2) – I really enjoyed reading from Derek’s perspective; and lastly, for being new to my TBR (+1) – I bought and read this book in the same month!
RANKINGS
After adding and subtracting, the Stags came last with 48 points (which isn’t surprising as even though they weren’t attacked, they only gained power once) and the Monarchs came third with 62 points.
Coming in at second place with 77 points was the Ravens.
credit: CoverswithCassidy
And the Winner is….
credit: CoverswithCassidy
The Stingers really got lucky with how they were only hit once and got to power up three times. They also very much benefited from 10 of the 12 books I read in March being either re-reads or by authors I’d read from before, which meant their team prompts were great power savers and attacks!
Thanks for reading! Did you participate in Realm-a-Thon? Did you have a good reading month? Let me know in the comments!
I hope you’re having a lovely day and staying safe ❤️
DramaRambles 🌸 