asian readathon · readathon

AAPI Heritage Month Readathon

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, which honors the contributions and achievements of Asian and Pacific Americans. Last year I did the WithCindy 2022 Asian Readathon and had a lot of fun with it. She’s hosting it again, and you can watch her video here where she explains the readathon challenges and gives a lot of great recs.

I hit a really hard reading slump a few months ago, where I only read six books in March and four in April. It probably seems overly ambitious to pick eight books to read for May, but I’m hoping that a readathon takes me out of my reading slump! However, because of the slump I’m in, I only picked books that were already on my tbr lists, and I decided not to try to hit all of the challenges for this readathon.

Here are the books I picked for the readathon:

The Dragon’s Promise and Heart of the Sun Warrior are sequels to books I read last year, and I’m looking forward to reading them. I’ve heard so many good things about Foul Lady Fortune, which has been sitting on my tbr stack from BOTM for ages. Hayley Aldridge is the sophomore album of a woman I started following on Instagram years ago for her wedding photography, and it’s been exhilarating watching her become a published author not once but twice!

I bought On Such a Full Sea at a library book sale ages ago, so it’ll be nice to cross another off the physical tbr list. Malice seems right up my alley in the thriller and crime genre, The Sacrifice reeled me in with young adult colonialism horror, and admittedly, A Magic Steeped in Poison pulled me in with its gorgeous cover art.

As always, I’ll write up full reviews throughout the month and do a final summary post at the end of the month!

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February Wrap Up

I can’t believe spring is only two weeks away and that we’re already a full week into March. February was a really good month for me. In terms of media, this was a typical, slow month for me. I watched two movies this month: The Menu (★★★★★, fight me) and The Strays (★★); played an embarrassing amount of Dead by Daylight; and started the newest season of Diablo III (sorcerer class til death).

More importantly, I prided myself on reading ten books again for the month! I’m currently five books ahead of schedule to hit my reading goal for the year, which is a great feeling. I somewhat feel myself hitting a wall with reading, but I do think it’s simply because I’m slugging through a young adult fantasy when my bones are screeching and itching for more of this horror obsession that I’m currently in (this isn’t really any different than any other time of the year for me, but shh).

Most of my reads came from the Black History Month readathon I did, but I managed to sneak in three others. These are all the books I read in February with ratings below:

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black history month readathon · readathon · review

Black History Month Readathon Summary

It feels surreal that we’re approaching March already, which means it’s time for a summary on my readathon for Black History Month. I read all of the chosen books except for The Merciless Ones, which I’m about a third of the way through right now. I tried to pick books with varying genres for the month, and truthfully I think I’m just not in the mood to read YA fantasy, unfortunately, which is why it’s taken me quite a while to get through this, even though I loved The Gilded Ones and was highly anticipating this sequel. I plan to power through it, because I’m at a point where the plot is picking up, and I have only heard great things about this book.

I already wrote reviews for When The Reckoning Comes and The Black Queen, so I’ll do mini reviews for the rest of the books below.

I think this is one of the harder readathon themes I have chosen or will ever choose, because even in books where Black women are empowered, there is such a daunting heaviness to them. There were plenty of times where I had to put down what I was reading (especially Yellow Wife) because the subject matter was so depressing. The books I chose discussed so many heavy topics, too: how public education fails Black children; abuse; slavery; the struggle of cultural identity; substance abuse and the government’s responsibility for the crack epidemic that ravaged Black communities; gentrification; and so much more.

These books all have wildly different plots, but the overarching theme of all of them is the amount of blatant racism Black people encounter every single day, in every single instance of their lives. Even in The Merciless Ones, in a fantasy land with mythical creatures, Deka recounts a time when she wished for lighter skin and eyes, to be more socially acceptable and “normal.”

These stories take place in present day, the 1800s, in fantasy worlds, and yet they all manage to drive home the point that just because slavery was abolished 150 years ago doesn’t mean Black people haven’t been facing the effects of systemic racism their entire lives.

Black History Month is such an excruciatingly important time, and it feels unfair that it’s the shortest month of the entire year. In February, support Black-owned businesses, educate yourself on history, read books by Black authors, listen to Black podcasts, watch Black tv and movies, join causes and uplift Black voices. But also, don’t forget to do this every month. Being an ally means that the significance and history of Black people spans so much more than just one month.

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review

Review: The Black Queen by Jumata Emill

Summary: Nova Albright, the first Black homecoming queen at Lovett High, is dead. Murdered the night of her coronation, her body found the next morning in the old slave cemetery she spent her weekends rehabilitating. Tinsley McArthur was supposed to be queen. Not only is she beautiful, wealthy, and white, it’s her legacy. Everyone in Lovett knows Tinsley would do anything to carry on the McArthur tradition.

No one is more certain of that than Duchess Simmons, Nova’s best friend. Duchess’s father is the first Black police captain in Lovett. For Duchess, Nova’s crown was more than just a win for Nova. It was a win for all the Black kids. Now her best friend is dead, and her father won’t face the fact that the main suspect is right in front of him. Duchess is convinced that Tinsley killed Nova–and that Tinsley is privileged enough to think she can get away with it. Duchess is determined to prove Tinsley’s guilt. And to do that, she’ll have to get close to her. But Tinsley has an agenda, too.

Genre: mystery, young adult
Rating: ★★★

The cover of this book had me hooked when I saw it a few months prior to release, and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. I loved the idea of a YA thriller about a friend seeking justice for her Black friend who was murdered. However, I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book.

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review

Review: The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi

Summary: Once upon a time, a man who believed in fairy tales married a beautiful, mysterious woman named Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada. He was a scholar of myths. She was heiress to a fortune. They exchanged gifts and stories and believed they would live happily ever after–and in exchange for her love, Indigo extracted a promise: that her bridegroom would never pry into her past.

But when Indigo learns that her estranged aunt is dying and the couple is forced to return to her childhood home, the House of Dreams, the bridegroom will soon find himself unable to resist. For within the crumbling manor’s extravagant rooms and musty halls, there lurks the shadow of another girl: Azure, Indigo’s dearest childhood friend who suddenly disappeared. As the house slowly reveals his wife’s secrets, the bridegroom will be forced to choose between reality and fantasy, even if doing so threatens to destroy their marriage . . . or their lives.

Genre: fantasy, horror
Rating: ★★★★★

The amount of times I pick up a book because it has a gorgeous cover only to be disappointed in the story is higher than I want to admit (mostly because it means admitting I’m a glutton for and can be won over with pretty cover art), but The Last Tale of the Flower Bride did not disappoint. It’s best to go into this story knowing as little as possible, and for that reason I will try to sing it the praises it deserves without giving away too much.

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