JULY READATHON WRAP-UP || The Book Junkie Trials 2019

Thursday, August 1, 2019
Hello my friends! 

Let me just bask in a moment of pride now, as I was honestly a little concerned I wouldn't remember to do a wrap-up post for this readathon... *basks* Okay, let's move on.

I am popping into your bloglovin' feed to let you know how I went with The Book Junkie Trials this July. If you want to have a look at my original post, and remind yourself of what my TBR was, please go check it out here.

Okay, moving into how I went with my TBR!

First up for my journey as a Mage, I came across Orc Grove, where I needed to read something gruesome, gory, or gritty so I could learn more about Orc customs. For this, I chose Nevernight by Jay Kristoff which was a reread for me, and I absolutely accomplished this. I wanted to reread this in preparation for the third book coming out in September, and I absolutely loved my time rereading this. I kind of forgot how much I adore the writing style of this book, and the characters... and the little footnotes... It's all just so good, and I am so excited for my reread of book two in August and also... Darkdawn in September. I am not ready, but I am excited.

Next up on my journey was Ol' Pirate Cove, where I had to read a book that takes place on the sea so I could perfect my sailing skills. My choice here was The Odyssey by Homer, which also worked for my class weakness of needing to read something out of my comfort zone for a spell going awry. And yes, I have finally read The Odyssey! This one took my quite a while, honestly. And I didn't end up enjoying it a whole lot, but I am really glad that I've read it. I found it interesting, just super repetitive.

Next up was a visit to Glimmer, the isle alight with gems and crystals, where I needed to read a beautiful or colourful book. For this I chose Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson and I ended up giving this book five stars. I absolutely loved it, and I still think about it now, even two weeks after having read it. I foresee a reread of it in the future, and Margaret Rogerson has become a favourite author already.

After that, I was off to the Draconic Isle. I needed to brush up on my draconic knowledge by reading a book containing dragons, and for this I had chosen Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison. And... I DNF'd this. I could barely get through a couple of chapters - just not for me. So I traded this one out for a surprise book that I received from Netgalley - The Tea Dragon Festival by Katie O'Neill and oh my goodness I can't even describe how much I loved this. I cannot wait for this to come out - I will be preordering it for sure. I need this on my shelves for many rereads. I just adore Katie O'Neill's work so much. I don't own any, though... this needs to be remedied.

Finally we have The Bookie Grail, where I had to read the group book Starlight by Neil Gaiman, but I found out that we could also read a book that involved searching for something that has been lost. I originally chose The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin for this and... I'm really sad about this, but I had to DNF this one, too. I can definitely see why it is so well-loved, but I realised that it just isn't for me. It felt a little too brutal and intense for me, and I have tried to read this on about four different occasions. This time I got over 100 pages in before I realised I was forcing myself to keep reading. It made me feel really sad, but I had to acknowledge that I just wasn't enjoying it at all.

And so, what did I read instead? Honestly, I'm not really sure. I've read lots of other books this month, but given I have to read them in order, I have five books that I could possibly count for this prompt. But none really perfectly fit it, and I have been feeling so burnt out from this TBR because of my sadness at The Fifth Season. For the final book, I am going to put A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles - because both the gentleman in question and myself were searching for joy. A bit wishy-washy, I know, but it works for me. And this book helped me feel so much better about the world in general, so I'm counting that as a win.

So, there you have it! I'm really interested to hear what books you would have chosen for these prompts, or if you participated in the Book Junkie Trials and how you did! Thanks, as always, to those who read.


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