The Reading Rush Wrap-Up

Whew! The Reading Rush is over! This was the first time I have ever participated in a readathon from beginning to end, and I COMPLETED EVERY READING CHALLENGE! I am so proud of myself, but honestly I'm exhausted. I think I pushed myself a little too hard...this is a lot of reading for someone with a full time job! Every night all I did when I came home was read, so I'm excited that it's over and I can binge some trash TV now!

Here are some mini-reviews of the books I completed, along with the challenge that each one met!

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery: I read this one for "Read a book you meant to read last year." So many people love and treasure this book, but I didn't feel the same. It was a solid 3 star for me, and I'm glad I read it, but I wouldn't pick it up again. The illustrations are adorable though!

Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson: This fulfilled the challenge of "Read a book with purple on the Cover." I actually did a full review for this one, which you can find here. This was a pretty good read! It was slow at first, but picked up well and was very shocking at the end. I'm definitely going to look into more of this author's books! I gave this read 4 stars.

Last Ones Left Alive by Sarah Davis-Goff: This was for the challenge of "Read an author's first book." This one will have a full review eventually, and it got a 4 star rating from me. Think The Walking Dead meets The Road with 99% female characters.

Animal Farm by George Orwell: Ick. I didn't get the point of this one. I know it's supposed to be satire but I just didn't enjoy it. I felt bad for the animals and wasn't entertained. At least this was a short read for the "Read a book with a non-human main character" challenge. I would rate this one 2 stars.

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware: I ADORED this read. Absolutely a 5 star. A full review will come for this one soon! This completed the challenge to "Read a book with 5 or more words in the title."

Little Girls by Nicholas Aflleje and Sarah Delaine. I chose this for "Read a book in one location" and this may be the biggest letdown of the entire readathon. I had really high hopes for this one and had heard great things, but it ended up being basically a deranged version of The Lion King. I didn't love the art style either, and this one ended up as a 2 star.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: I panicked a day before the readathon was over and swapped this one in for the "Read and watch a book to movie adaptation" challenge. The Great Gatsby is one of my favorite books of all time and I love this movie as well. This was the last challenge I completed and I'm glad this is how I ended up wrapping up the readathon. 5 stars again, to both the book and the movie.

Total books finished: 7

Total pages read: 1661

The Reading Rush TBR

This year, I decided I wanted to participate in The Reading Rush readathon (formerly known as the BookTubeAThon)! It starts TODAY and runs through through July 28th, and you can learn more about the readathon here.  I'm not the best with readathons, and usually either forget or taper out in the first few days, but since so many people are doing this one I really wanted to give it a shot! I don't think I've ever read 7 books in a week before so we'll see if I can rise to the occasion! Here is my TBR that I hope to knock out during the week of challenges:

1. Read a book with purple on the cover: Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson

2. Read a book in the same spot the entire time: Little Girls by Nicholas Aflleje and Sarah DeLaine (I'll be trying to finish this whole graphic novel in our hammock!)

3. Read a book you meant to read last year: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

4. Read an author's first book: Last Ones Left Alive by Sarah Davis-Goff

5. Read a book with a non-human main character: Animal Farm by George Orwell

6. Read a book that has five or more words in the title: The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

7. Read and watch a book to movie adaptation: A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Bonus: Read 7 books!

Yes, I am aware a few of these books are pretty short. Nothing wrong with setting yourself up for success, right?

Are you participating in The Reading Rush? What books are on your TBR?

Magical Readathon: OWLs Exams

I've been looking for a good readathon to participate in, and when I saw someone share this one I knew it would be the perfect one to do. This is hosted by Book Roast over on YouTube, so if you want more information be sure to check out the video below.

Basically, the goal of this readathon is to pass your OWLs just like the students at Hogwarts. There are 12 different subjects to choose from, but to pass your OWLs as acceptable you only need to successfully complete 2 subjects. If you want to overachieve, like Hermione, you can pass 3 to exceed expectations or 5 to pass as outstanding.

The OWLs Exams readathon takes place from April 2 to April 29.

I didn't want to disrupt my TBR too much with this readathon, but I knew I could easily squeeze a few of these in (and still pass higher than acceptable!) with books that were already on my radar. I may try to attempt more if I'm having a good reading month, but I wanted to start with just a few. Here are the subjects I've chosen to sit my OWLs for, and the books I will be reading for them:

• Astronomy (a science fiction book): Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

• Charms (a fantasy book): The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw

• Herbology (a book with a nature-related word in the title): The Girl and the Grove by Eric Smith

Here's to passing my OWLs with an exceeds expectations rating! Have you participated in readathons before? Which was your favorite?