A Very Late JULY 2020 & TOTALLY SPIESATHON WRAP-UP

Hello friends! Another month has ended at the blink of an eye, and before we know it, it’s the time again for another wrap-up. When compared to the month before, I was evidently less productive in July. I fell into a huge reading slump right from at the beginning of the month so that wasn’t a great start. I also participated in the month-long Totally Spiesathon which I think pushed me to read more than I would have. So I managed to read 7 books in July so I’m pretty happy with that.

Soooo without further ado, here’s a more detailed recap of what I’ve been up to last July!

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GALLEYATHON Wrap-Up

Yes, I know Galleyathon ended 3 days ago. And yep, I am aware that this is a late wrap-up post. I got too caught up with other stuff and completely put off writing this until now. But better late than never, right?

This is the first readathon I’ve joined this year and I’m so happy to say that it’s a successful one for me! Admittedly, I don’t have a great track record when it comes to readathons as I am lacking the focus and commitment it requires. That’s why it was a surprise to me how I managed to do well in this one!

For Galleyathon, I managed to read 3 books and started a 4th book (though I haven’t quite finished reading it yet) from my Netgalley shelf! How I achieved that in only a week, considering how slow my reading pace is, I’m not sure. But the hosts of this readathon sure gave us participants a lot of motivation, especially with the reading sprints so it was a lot of fun!

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JOINING #GALLEYATHON + Prompts and My TBR

Hi, friends! I’m so excited to be writing this because I think this readathon is just brilliant for my current predicament. But if you know me, you know that I am a catastrophic disaster when it comes to readathons. I seem to lack the focus and commitment to finish even one full readathon, whether it be a short week or a whole month. With that, I became really skeptical about participating.

However, my NetGalley problem far overpowers my skepticism so here I am now, perusing my NetGalley shelves for my TBR in this readathon.

The Galleyathon is a readathon hosted by Connor and Brooke which focuses on the galleys we requested (and have been approved for) on NetGalley, but never got around to reading yet. This is a week-long readathon, which runs from June 15th up until June 21st. Through this, hopefully I can revive my feedback ratio closer to a hundred percent.

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#AvengersReadathon19: Sign-Up + My TBR!

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WHAT? I’m signing up for another readathon?? Well… I’m not sure what’s gotten into me either because this isn’t like me at all. Although I love seeing readathons hosted all year round, I’m really not one to join in on the excitement because I’m a big mood reader and the pressure of the challenges can be a bit much for me. However, this one sounds too good to pass up so I decided, to hell with my inhibitions, this is gonna be so much fun!

AVENGERS READATHON 2019

Hosted by the lovely Noura at The Perks of Being Noura, this readathon was created in line with the upcoming Marvel movie titled Avengers: Endgame. Although I’m not totally caught up yet, I’m hoping to finish the rest of MCU movies before the release of Endgame.

So, the rules of this challenge is fairly simple which appealed me to join. There are 18 different Avengers profiles and each of them have challenges/assignments than need to be accomplished. The goal of this readathon is for participants to choose two Avengers profiles at most and complete their corresponding assignments in the duration of the readathon. Participants are allowed to skip only two assignments at most for their chosen profile/s. This runs from April 14 until May 14, a whole month. Oh, and also, this doesn’t limit you to a certain format which means any are accepted (eBooks, physical books, audiobooks, graphic novels, etc.) as long as it complies with the assignments.

I feel like I didn’t explain the mechanics well so click here to find out more about the Avengers Readathon 2019!

Now, on to the exciting bit! I decided to select only one profile since I don’t think I can finish two profiles’ challenges in one month. And I chose… Scarlet Witch! She’s one of my favorite characters in the Avengers.

SCARLET WITCH ASSIGNMENTS: MY TBR

There are a total of 6 prompts for Scarlet Witch and I opted to skip out 2 of them for the time being. Who knows, maybe if I have more time left in this readathon, I can finish them all. But for now, here are the books I plan to read!

WANDA AND PIETRO
book with twins

Skipped this one as I don’t think I currently have a book with twins at the moment.

RED PSIONIC ENERGY
character with red hair or book with a red cover

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1833. After young Lord James Ellerby witnesses a near-fatal carriage accident on the outskirts of his estate, he doesn’t think twice about bringing the young woman injured in the wreck to his family’s manor to recuperate. But then she finally regains consciousness only to find that she has no memory of who she is or where she belongs.

Beth, as she takes to calling herself, is an enigma even to herself. She has the rough hands of a servant, but the bearing and apparent education of a lady. Her only clue to her identity is a gruesome recurring nightmare about a hummingbird dripping blood from its steel beak.

With the help of James and his sister, Caroline, Beth slowly begins to unravel the mystery behind her identity and the sinister circumstances that brought her to their door. But the dangerous secrets they discover in doing so could have deadly ramifications reaching the highest tiers of London society.

TELEKINESIS
book featuring powers

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For some the tower of shells was folly. For Tansy McCoy it was destiny.

By day, Tansy McCoy is a florist making charmed bouquets for the citizens of Junonia, capital of the Kingdom of Terranmar. By night, she’s an assassin and the keeper of the Dangerous Garden where deadly blooms grow. Together with the town tailor, butcher, baker, and metalsmith (just don’t call her a candlestick maker), she is part of the Guild, a secret group of spell-wielding thieves and mercenaries. Their task: consolidate all that remains of the realm’s fading magic under the ruthless King Zeno’s control.

Impetuous loner Tansy chafes under her Guild demands. She longs to quit her town and trade and head for the hills. Unfortunately, King Zeno has other plans. He wants to marry off his daughter to Terranmar’s famously reclusive wizard, Rune Hallows, and he’s willing to have the Guild kidnap him to make it happen. Fail to deliver the wizard and the consequences will be swift and deadly.

Reluctant but determined, Tansy sets out on the long journey to faraway Wentletrap and Rune’s desolate tower by the sea. To get there she must cross a swamp full of sinister surprises, battle a werewolf, and outrace a bloodthirsty band of revenants, while she wrestles with her own magical powers that seem to be expanding in unpredictable ways.

But reaching Rune’s tower is only the beginning. When Tansy learns the real reason behind the king’s contest, she’ll need to decide whether to give in to the growing forces of magic ready to reclaim Terranmar or embrace her newfound powers to save the kingdom.

SCARLET WITCH
paranormal or horror

Skipped this one as well. I’m not in the mood for the genre at the moment.

Choose 1 of Black Widow’s assignments
THE BLACK WIDOW
spies and heists

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DIVERGENT meets OCEAN’S EIGHT in this urban fantasy heist!

On my seventeenth birthday, I wake up in the hospital to find I just survived a sketchy-but-terrible accident. My perfect-looking parents say I live an ideal life inside the Boston dome. And although my swoon-worthy guard, Thorne, looks totally familiar, he says we don’t have a history.

What a bunch of crap.

I don’t remember anything—not even my real name—but I can still tell when someone’s lying. From what I figure out, my dystopian overlords wiped my memory, leaving only my super science skills behind. Now, instead of expecting me to scream for revenge, the government demands that I build new tech that will launch an apocalypse against anyone who isn’t perfect.

So I nod. Say yes. And scheme to blow the whole thing up.

My memory may be gone, but my sass remains intact. I round up a team of teenage scientists to take down the nasty-ass government without getting ourselves killed. Only trouble is, I must accomplish all this while avoiding my growing attraction to Thorne, who may or may not be an alien. Something tells me that protecting my heart from my hottie guard might be the most dangerous adventure of all…

Choose 1 more assignment from either Ant-Man, Spider-Man or Dr. Strange
PETER PARKER
young adult book

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As everyone at her Brooklyn high school announces their summer adventures, Olivia harbors a dirty secret: Her plan is to binge-watch horror movies and chat with her online friend, Elm. Olivia and Elm have never shared personal details, apart from their ages and the fact that Elm’s aunt is a low-budget horror filmmaker. Then Elm pushes Olivia to share her identity and sends her a selfie of his own. Olivia is shocked by how cute he is! In a moment of panic, assuming she and Elm will never meet in real life, she sends a photo of her gorgeous friend Katie. But things are about to get even more complicated when Olivia’s parents send her to the Catskills, and she runs into the one person she never thought she would see. This sweet and funny summertime romance is perfect for fans of Love and Gelato and The Unexpected Everything.


There we go! Hopefully I can finish all those books in this readathon. I think this would be challenging since I still have a lot of catching up to do with the MCU movies as well.

Have you joined in #AvengersReadathon19 as well? Drop your links in the comments, I would love to see whom you’ve chosen and what your TBR includes!

Year of the Asian Reading Challenge 2019: SIGN UP + MY VERY (!!) AMBITIOUS TBR

I am very, very excited to be finally writing this post!!! When I first saw the sign-up post for this challenge I almost screamed. Being a pure Filipino blogger, this challenge means SO MUCH to me since it promotes more representation for Asian culture, and it really is so heartwarming having to read books that I see my own culture in! Now, you may think, “Luxe. How come you’re only signing up now, when you’ve apparently saw the sign-up post right when it was first published?” Well, to be completely honest, I was ashamed of myself for not having enough physical books written by Asian authors so I decided not to join until I had bought a fair lot of those.

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Fortunately, the lovely Justine from Bookish Wisps encouraged me to join and made me realize that this challenge considers all formats. Whether it be eBooks/eARCs, audiobooks or physical books, everything’s accepted as long as it’s from an Asian author, you’re all set. How stupid am I for restraining myself when I could have joined from the very start?? facepalm But you know what they say… Better late than never!

YEAR OF THE ASIAN READING CHALLENGE

This wonderful challenge is hosted by four amazing bloggers: CW from The Quiet Pond, Shealea from Shut Up Shealea, Lily from Sprinkles of Dreams, and Vicky from Vicky Who Reads. In line with the many books released and upcoming releases this 2019, #YARC2019 aims to promote and read as many books as possible from Asian authors. And as I’ve said above, any format of the book is accepted, plus, all genres and lengths are welcome as well. The leniency of this gave me the extra push to join and I’m so excited!!

YARC 2019 begins at the start of, well, 2019 and ends on December 31st 2019. Therefore, all books read in that certain time period are counted towards the goal! With that said, there are multiple levels in this challenge and I am currently aiming for the lowest but by no means the least. And can I just say that CW’s graphics for every challenge level are fantastic and soooo adorable!!! CW is sooo talented. I apologize for fangirling.

If you want to know more about this and want to sign-up for yourself, go on over to CW’s Welcome Post for YARC 2019!

I am currently aiming for the Philippine tarsier which is 1-10 books to read. I can be so painfully slow at reading most of the time so I didn’t want to put pressure on myself by aiming for 50+ books this year. But if I get there, well, all the better!

LUXE’S #YARC2019 TBR

Contrary to what I’ve just said about being prudent on the number of books I aim to read for this challenge, I have put together an ambitious at least, for me TBR. The reason for this is to allow myself a selection to choose from. So here it is… Also, I’ve cut my TBR into different categories just because I’m that extra.

RECOMMENDATIONS FROM BLOGGER FRIENDS

ANTICIPATED RELEASES

BOOKS THAT DIDN’T FALL ON THE CATEGORIES ABOVE BUT I STILL DESPERATELY WANNA READ, IT’S NOT EVEN FUNNY


So far, my progress for #YARC2019 is an embarrassing zero, zip, zilch, nada! Please don’t hate me. *hides* But rest assured that I absolutely do intend to remedy that immediately.

I think that’s it for my sign-up post. I’ll be updating my progress regularly on here so stay tuned for that. If you want, I mean, I’m not forcing ya. *slowly steps backward*

Again, I couldn’t be more happier in joining the Year of the Asian Reading Challenge. If you’ve signed up for this as well, please please PLEASE leave a link to your post. I would love to check your goals and TBR! And if you haven’t signed up yet, I highly encourage that you do!

Leave a comment down below if you wanna chat, as always! But for now, I’ve got some catching up to do. Au revoir!