Tag: Booktube

READATHON TBR || BookTube-A-Thon

 

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I wouldn’t be a good BookTube follower if I would not follow and try to participate in the BookTube-A-Thon, a weeklong Readathon event that (so far as I know) started in Ariel Bissett’s YouTube Channel and became a happy celebration of BookTubers and reading.

So, without much further ado (after all, I should be tackling my TBR right now), here is my TBR list with the challenges I finished already and my TBR for the yet to be done challenges:

The 2017 Reading Challenges:

1/ Read a book with a person on the cover.

For this challenge, I chose “Skinwalker (Jane Yellowrock, #1)” by Faith Hunter.
My review: I’m right now on page 32. I have only started but so far I like this book. Let’s see where it goes.

2/ Read a hyped book.

I heard frequently of “Every Heart a Doorway(Wayward Children, #1)” by Seanan McGuire on Youtube and even now it seems to be one of the most read books in the Readathon.

My review: 3 stars. A very interesting premise, but somehow underdeveloped. Great story ideas were thrown in a shallow way that surely needed more depth. I hope the next books in the series develop it further.

3/ Finish a book in one day.

This was the first challenge I finished because short is quickly done. For this challenge, I chose the “Curran POV Collection”, a collection of scenes you can download on the web page of the authors Ilona and Gordon Andrews. This scenes will mostly only make sense if you read the Kate Daniel’s series (and I sincerely recommend this series as awesome paranormal fantasy).

My review: 5 stars, ** spoiler alert **

Curran: “I spat the ear out and knocked it toward him with my paw. No, you can keep it. Doesn’t taste that great.” This line still makes me laugh by myself one day after reading this book.

Curran POV shows his side on the scenes that were mainly told in Kate’s POV during the series. It shows the hard side of what is needed to be the alpha of the shapeshifters in Kate’s world. Not an easy day at the office for sweet and wild Curran. 😉
I wished there would be more of this series than only the next book. This is also a short book that you can (unfortunately) read in one day.

4/ Read about a character that is very different from you.

I’m planning to read “Old Man’s War (Old Man’s War #1)” by John Scalzi because the character is an old man, someone very different than me. If I don’t have time to read it this week, I’ll read it the next week so my review will be here eventually.


5/ Finish a book completely outdoors.

I’m not sure I’ll manage this in a very rainy July? When I get a couple of sunny hours I do take the books to the playground where my kids play, so most books have seen sunlight. But to finish it all outdoors would be unpractical right now.


6/ Read a book you bought because of the cover.

“Northanger Abbey (The Austen Project #2) by Val McDermid”. The one published by HarperFiction with the gloomy Abbey on the cover. Besides the cover, I also chose this book to finally read something by Val McDermid, an author my mother likes a lot and because I did like the original “Northanger Abbey” by J.Austen.

My review for this book: 5 stars, A fresh and modern retelling of a classic. Now, can someone please tell me where can I find the Hebridean Harpies series?


7/ Read seven books.

If I have the time I’ll read “The Archived (The Archived #1)” by Victoria Schwab still this week. But probably I’ll delay until next week and post my review later on. After all, why hurry? Only non-connoisseurs drink a good wine quickly.
And you? Are you participating in this Readathon? Let me know in the comments!

UPDATE AFTER THE READATHON

I didn’t manage to finish the fourth book, but I think that 3 books with my hectic real life were quite OK. I did start Skinwalker and “This Savage Song”, which I read until page 61.
Not so bad and I also managed to read a lot on the playground, so I consider Challenge number 5 half done. 🙂

So my final results were:

1/ Read a book with a person on the cover.

Skinwalker (Jane Yellowrock #1) by Faith Hunter — 32 pages

2/ Read a hyped book.

Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children #1) by Seanan McGuire — 176 pages

3/ Finish a book in one day.

Curran POV Collection (Curran POV #1-9) by Gordon Andrews, Ilona Andrews  — 157 pages

I skipped Challenge 4 and will be reading this book later.

5/ Finish a book completely outdoors.

This Savage Song (Monsters of Verity #1) by Victoria Schwab — 61 pages, finished after the readathon.

Later update (3/8/17): I didn’t manage to read this whole book outdoors, but all my books have been outdoors one moment or another so I consider this challenge half done.

This was a 5 stars book with great characters and an original and poetic story.

6/ Read a book you bought because of the cover.

Northanger Abbey (The Austen Project #2) by Val McDermid — 358 pages

And I didn’t read the seventh book yet, but later on, steady as I go…

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Mid-Year Book Freak Out-BOOK TAG 2017

I saw this Book Tag on Youtube and decided to do it on my blog. So here are my answers:

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1. Best book you’ve read so far in 2017.

I have different choices for different genres. In Fantasy, there would be a tie between “A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses #2)” by Sarah J. Maas and the Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo. In Sci-fi, the winner would be the awesome Comics series “Saga”.

 

2. The best sequel you’ve read so far in 2017.

“A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses #2)” by Sarah J. Maas which was better than the first book of the series.

 

3. New release you haven’t read yet, but want to.

The third book of A Court of Thorns and Roses, “A Court of Wings and Ruin” by Sarah J. Maas. I started or went on reading a lot of other series and still have this one left on my TBR.

 

4. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year.

The paperback edition of “Blood of Wonderland (Queen of Hearts Saga #2)” by Colleen Oakes. I have the first book in paperback and I don’t want to buy the second book in hardcover, this would make the series look mismatched on my shelf like many other series I was too much in a hurry to finish, so I’m trying to wait patiently this time, until October!

 

5. Biggest disappointment.

The book “Hounded (The Iron Druid Chronicles #1)” by Kevin Hearne because I expected much more from a series with a Druid. When I think of Druids, I think wise and ancient like Panoramix (named Getafix in English translations) from the Asterix Comics series and this one wasn’t at all what I expected. I also expected something completely different from the Celtic story world and the story itself. All the stereotyped characters, situations and not my type of jokes in this book didn’t work for me at all.

 

6. Biggest surprise.

The book “The Kiss of Deception (The Remnant Chronicles #1)” by Mary E. Pearson (Spoiler Alert) had the most surprising plot twist for me. It was so unexpected I still can’t really accept it… And I won’t lie, I felt kind of cheated.

 

7. Favorite new author. (Debut or new to you)

Erin Morgenstern, author of “The Night Circus”. This book is the most beautifully written I read this year so far and it will stay in my heart for a long time.

 

8. Newest fictional crush.

Crush is perhaps a too strong word for it, but Rhysand from “A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses #2)” by Sarah J. Maas is a very interesting character.

 

9. Newest favorite character.

Prince Robot IV from the Saga comics series because he has a television head! He made me remember a Brazilian 80’s song from Rita Lee where she sang in Portuguese that “the guy had a television face,” and this royal not only embodies that song literally but, (spoiler alert) kids can watch his dreams while he sleeps. He’s also a quite lost character, still very much in doubt about being self-centered or helpful and his main answer to most of the life’s questions is… Sex. Good that he didn’t get an STD while looking for himself.

 

10. A book that made you cry.

Even with a no-books-that-makes-you-cry policy, I must confess that the Epilogue of “Clockwork Princess (The Infernal Devices #3)” by Cassandra Clare was so touching it made tears surface to my eyes. This book was a perfect ending to this trilogy.

 

11. A book that made you happy.

Now I’ll have to repeat myself and go with “A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses #2)” by Sarah J. Maas because this was a book I felt like fist pumping and shouting ‘yes’ with the heroine choices. So I was happy with it.

 

12. Most beautiful book you’ve bought so far this year (or received)

I would have two different first places for this:
Beautifully drawn: “Monstress, Vol. 1: Awakening (Monstress (Collected Editions) #1)” by Marjorie M. Liu (Goodreads Author) (Writer), Sana Takeda (Artist), Rus Wooton (Letterer, Designer)
My “own taste” beautiful: Trying Human (Volume #2) by Emy Bitner, because I really like how she draws/develops this series.

 

13. What books do you need to read by the end of the year?

I plan to read 10 books on Writing craft this year. So far I read six books, leaving four to go, or who knows, perhaps I’ll be lucky to read more than my new year’s resolution this time.

I have now two books as audiobooks, so I’ll hear them while organizing or coloring instead of taking the time to sit and hold them before me. It worked well for the last non-fiction book I was hearing.

 

14 Favourite Book Community Member(s)?

There are so many nice Booktubers, readers I’ve met on Goodreads, and people I met on this blog, that I couldn’t possibly name only one person or even all of them. I did though write a blog post about My favorite Booktubers not long ago.

What’s great in this online community are all the different tastes and opinions, even if someone won’t read a book what I consider a must-read for this or that genre, or love a book/author I don’t care about.

Isn’t diversity beautiful?

 

If you do the Mid-Year Book Freak Out // Book Tag on your Blog or Youtube channel leave your link in the comments. I’m curious. 😉

My Favorite Booktube Channels

Here is a list of my favorite Booktube channels.
They aren’t listed in order of preference. Some of these channels I have followed more closely, some less. In any case, I found all of them very inspiring when looking for a new book or comic to read. The first link is the channel and the second my favorite video from that channel.
 

1 – BookswithEmilyFox

Favorite Video: 2016 Wrap Up & 2017 Reading Goals

Favorite Video: READATHONS IN 2017

Favorite Video: BOOKSHELF TOUR!

6 – Epic Reads


8 – Book Riot


10 – BEmpoeirada

This last channel is in Brazilian Portuguese.