August Readathon TBR’s 📚 Series Crackdown & Tome Topple

Hello fellow bookworms 📚 I’m back from my short vacation, which is why last week there weren’t any posts nor a wrapup on my blog. My July Wrapup is going to be pushed back to Friday (but it’s coming 😄) as I had the burning need to talk to you about the Readathons I’ll be joining in August! I often only post my Readathon TBR’s on my Twitter Account – especially if I’m joining spontaneously like I did with the Off the Grid Readathon last month – but I love Readathons and talking about the TBR’s – that I often change up – so much, so I want to feature that more on my blog. I think Readathons are part of my brand, so I’ll be posting more TBR’s in the future, often combining them into one post, like I’m doing now for the month of August 💗 (My Readathon Wrapups are always part of my Monthly Wrapup and I’m still doing updates on my Twitter) There were so many amazing Readathons out there this month, but I had to limit myself to two that I’ve been following for many years: The Tome Topple and the Series Crackdown Readathon 😊 So here are some information about both Readathons and my TBR 🧡

Information

This is a Readathon all about tackling those unread series that have accumulated on your TBR! Usually, it’s a 10-day long Readathon but because we’re in Round 10 now, there’s an anniversary special 🎉 Instead of 10 days, the Readathon will run the entire month of August, which has me honestly so excited as I couldn’t always participate as much as I wanted to in previous rounds. I still remember participating in the first round back in 2018 and it was honestly such a great experience 💗 The Readathon is hosted by Mel @ thebookmo and includes a lot of great challenges as well as Teams! There are even MOO points this time around that you can earn for posting updates and reading books 🐮

• Readathon Twitter
• Signup Form
• Round 10 Information Thread (with templates!)

Challenges

© Mel @ thebookmo

Teams

• TEAM Duologies ➽ Captain: Steph @ eenalol ➽ Group Book: State of Sorrow
• TEAM Trilogies ➽ Captain: Becca @ bexcapades ➽ Group Book: The Cruel Prince
• TEAM Quartets ➽ Captain: Mel @ thebookmo ➽ Group Book: The Raven Boys
• TEAM Beasts ➽ Captain: Charlotte @ Charlotteswhere ➽ Group Book: Crescent City

My Series Crackdown TBR

It was really hard to decide on what Team to join because I love series of all lengths, but in the end, I made my choice based on the Group Books. I’ve already read the Team Trilogy and Quartet books, but I’ve yet to read Crescent City, so I choose Team Beasts!! (Let’s be honest, I also love long series, even though I’m so bad at keeping up with them 😂) I’m not sure I’ll get to the group book, but we’ll see what the month will bring in terms of reading 😊

Also Tome Topple Reads

(for my thoughts check out my Tome Topple TBR!)

Kingdom of Souls (Rena Barron) ➽ First in a Series 📚 & A Court of Wings and Ruin (Rena Barron) ➽ Gathering Dust on my Shelf ➽ Book 3 in the ACOTAR Series 🌺

Books that fit the challenges

Broken Throne (Victoria Aveyard) ➽ Sequel (Novella Collection) ➽ Book 4.5 in the Red Queen Series 💜 Despite its flaws I really love the Red Queen books, especially as this was the first series I read when I got back to reading! However, I have not yet read this novella collection, as I tend to not prioritize extra content when there is so much else to be read 😅 I’m excited to finally get to this though! I’m checking it out of the library first because I’m not sure if I want it as an actual physical hardcover book to match the rest of the book series 😄

Beastly Bones (William Ritter) ➽ Glossy Cover ➽ Book 2 in the Jackaby Series 💗 I’m back on my Jackaby obsession!! I read and loved Jackaby right at the beginning of the year but between finishing my Bachelor Thesis and then quarantine distracting me reading-wise, I didn’t pick up the sequel. That ends now, as I don’t want to procrastinate continuing this amazing series, even though I’ll be very sad when it’s over. Jackaby is already one of my all-time favorite books now so I’m happy to finally read Beastly Bones ❤

Graceling (Kristin Cashore) ➽ Recommended by a Friend (Margaret & Caitlin) 💖 I got this for super cheap at a second-hand bookstore … but then I procrastinated reading it as I tend to do 😅 This is a very backlist series that however is well-beloved in the community even now, so I want to finally read it, especially after seeing how many people I trust love it! Margaret and Caitlin both liked Graceling, which honestly makes me so excited to finally dive into it and read a good old-fashioned Fantasy 🥰

The Silvered Serpents (Roshani Chokshi) ➽ Fantasy ➽ Book 2 in The Gilded Wolves Trilogy 💚 I FINALLY read The Gilded Wolves in July!!! This is a very big achievement as I kept procrastinating reading it because I love the author’s books so much (which might not make sense, but I tend to postpone books I have high expectations for) After finally finding my motivation to read it I ended up loving The Gilded Wolves (my first new 5-star book since April) which just proves that I should just read the books I think I’ll love  😂 Anyway, I saw that The Silvered Serpents was up on Netgalley for a short time under Read Now and immediately snatched it up, so now I can dive right into the sequel 💖

10 Things I Hate About Pinky (Sandhya Menon) ➽ Read with a snack ➽ Book 3 in the Dimple and Rishi Universe 🥰 Getting an online library pass for my country’s biggest library (and therefore access to Overdrive, which is not common for most libraries, only the ones in the biggest cities) has revolutionized my world. I can now finally read lots of new releases without having to buy them and it makes me so grateful to have (found) this option 🥺 I also love that you can recommend books for the library to buy and they immediately put you on the waitlist or (probably if you were the first to recommend the book) make the book available to you first. The latter happened to me here and I am EXCITED!!! Sandhya Menon is one of the best contemporary authors and I’m happy to finally read more by her 💖 (She’s got 2 books in 2020, we have been blessed!)

Serpent & Dove (Shelby Mahurin) ➽ Animal on the Cover ✨ I got this for Christmas but haven’t gotten to it yet, which is sad because it’s got WITCHES, my ultimate weakness in books. I’ve seen some mixed reviews by now, but I did hear that Serpent & Dove is entertaining and swoony, so I’m just hoping for a quick, fun read with not too many expectations attached to it 😊 I’m still hoping that I’ll like the book because it’s got so many of my buzzwords, like witches, enemies to lovers and some swoony romance 👀

Information

I’ve been a long-time participant of Tome Topple, as it was the first Readathon I participated in back in 2016 💗 The Readathon’s main aim is to get you to tackle those tomes (500+ paged books) on your TBR that you normally don’t get to and are often too intimidated to start 📚 We’re already in Round 12 of the Readathon and this time it takes place from August 8th to the 21st! It’s hosted by Sam @ thoughtsontomes – one of my favorite Booktubers – but has a bunch of cohosts every round that I’ve listed down below! I haven’t been too good at participating in previous rounds, but for once the Readathon takes place at a time when I can read a lot more, so I’ll be taking advantage of this!  Some books from my Series Crackdown TBR also fit into Tome Topple and vice-versa 😊

• Readathon Twitter
• Goodreads Group 
• Instagram Challenges & Bingo Board

Co-Hosts

• Adri (pronounced “Audrey”; they/them) @ perpetualpages
• Sarah-Jane (she/her) @ thebooklife
• Sian (she/her) @ readersrambles
• Sam 2 (she/her) @ willreadforbooze
• Gaia (she/her) @ lalettricesegretan
• Tori (she/her) @ torimorrow
• Caz (she/her) @ littlebookowl

Challenges

• The tome that has been on your TBR the longest
• A tome audiobook
• The tome you’ve most recently acquired
• A standalone tome
• Read 1 tome
• A tome written by a Black author
• Tome from a genre you don’t usually read
• The tome on your TBR with the most pages
• A tome you started during another round of Tome Topple

If you complete…

• 1-3 challenges: STUDENT
• 4-6 challenges: SCHOLAR
• 7-9 challenges: SAGE
• *1 book counts for MAX 2 challenges*

My Tome Topple TBR

Priority Reads

A Court of Wings and Ruin (Sarah J. Maas) ➽ Tome Started During a Past Round (Round 9 in November 2019) 🌺 I have been telling you that it’s finally time to read this book for 3 (?) years now and it’s getting embarrassing 😅 I read ACOTAR on New Year’s Eve 2017, then read ACOMAF in 2018 (twice!) and … then never continued with the series, why did I do this?? I should have read A Court of Wings and Ruin immediately after when I was still mentally in this story universe, so now I’m scared that my love for this series has dimmed a bit. I’m determined to finally read this tome of a book (700 pages!!) during this Tome Topple round for sure!! (speaking it into existence) Last November I actually started reading it during Tome Topple Round 9 (liked what I read so far, so that’s good) but then life happened and I didn’t continue reading it … until now!

Illuminae Files (Kaufman & Kristoff) 🔁 ➽ Tome from a genre you don’t usually read (Sci-Fi) ⭐ I’m sure that rereads aren’t technically the aim of this Readathon – I think it’s more about getting tomes off your TBR, but I have felt my rereading urge rising again. I haven’t reread as many books as last year – at least it feels that way – but I still love doing it. The unique format of the Illuminae files makes them quick to read despite their length, so I hope to binge-read them after finishing ACOWAR! I just want to escape into space away from everything happening ✨

Kingdom of Souls (Rena Barron) ➽ Tome by a Black Author 🧡 I definitely knew that I wanted to fulfill this prompt and give my love to a book by a Black Author, as it’s important to me to actually read the books by Black Authors that I have on my TBR instead of just talking about reading them! I spotted the ebook of this for a really great deal (on AmazonDE so not sure about other countries but here’s the link in case anyone is interested!) so I knew that I had to buy it, it was the perfect timing to read it for Tome Topple and discover another great, diverse Fantasy!! 🥰

Other Choices (if I have time)

• Strange the Dreamer (Laini Taylor) ➽ Most Recent Tome
• Supernova (Marissa Meyer)
• Serpent & Dove (Shelby Mahurin)
• The Toll (Neal Shusterman) ➽ Tome by a Black Author

Are you participating in Tome Topple, Series Crackdown, or any other Readathon this month? Have you read any of the books on my TBR? 📚