Day: July 20, 2017

24in48 July 2017 Readathon – Personal Goals & TBR

Hello to all of my lovely fellow book lovers! It’s that time of year again when readathons are plentiful as everyone gears up for going back to school or are just celebrating the upcoming end of summer (for all of my fellow Northern Hemisphere peeps) and winter (shoutout to my Southern friends!). I don’t get to participate in very many readathons as having a full-time job really cuts into my reading time, but luckily the 24in48 Readathon is perfect for those of us with 9 to 5’s.

Basically, the 24in48 Readathon is really simple – all participants have to do is read 24 hours in a 48 hour time period. ACA-EXCUSE ME?! Yes, you read that right. There are no challenges and no other requirements! This is basically just focusing on you setting aside some time from 12:01am on Saturday morning until 11:59pm on Sunday night to read. You can read for a full 24 straight hours, perhaps 12 hours each day, or any which way you want. There are also some seriously amazing gift packages up for grabs for those who participate and complete the full 24 hours… and I mean AMAZING. The readathon will be running from 12:01am Saturday the 22nd until 11:59pm Sunday the 23rd. If you’d like to learn more and sign up, just go HERE. You can also follow along on Twitter @24in48readathon.

As soon as I signed up for this weekend’s readathon, I decided that I wanted to set some goals for myself to really help me focus. Fingers crossed right?

1. Read at least 600 pages.

Now you may be thinking that thinking that seems fairly easy for a 24 period reading, I won’t disagree with that. However, I have noticed that my reading pace has slowed down recently and I don’t want to try to push myself so much that I can’t fully enjoy what I’m reading.

2. Read 3 different books.

Now I won’t be picky or anything with this one, so as long as I get to read at least parts of 3 different books then I will be satisfied. If I finish 2 books and get to start on a third one then I think that makes for a damn good 24 hours of reading. Like I said, I don’t want to kill myself trying to reach such lofty goals. This is supposed to be fun and chill after all!

3. Complete the Hype or Like Friday July BOTM, A Million Junes.

Our reviews for this month’s BOTM are scheduled for next Friday and I really don’t want to push this book to the side any longer. I’ve only heard amazing things about it and I think this will be the perfect read to stay up late and binge on. If Emily Henry’s debut novel, The Love That Split the World, taught me anything last year, it’s that I will definitely need to keep tissues close by!

My Readathon TBR

  • A Million Junes by Emily Henry – 350 pages
  • The Mime Order (The Bone Season, #2) by Samantha Shannon – 510 pages
  • Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman – 281 pages

To at least give myself a chance to complete all of my goals, I decided to break up my Smashing Series July TBR for a moment and add Gaiman’s Norse Mythology to the mix. This book is on the shorter side page-wise and should be a quick read which are always appreciated during readathons. Plus, Gaiman just kicks major ass and I’m way overdue picking this one up.

Are you participating in this month’s 24in48 Readathon? What books will you be reading? Do you like to set personal goals during readathons? Have you read any of the books on my TBR?

Book Review: This Savage Song (Monsters of Verity, #1)

I still don’t know why I put off picking up This Savage Song (Monsters of Verity, #1) by Victoria Schwab. Actually, I might blame it on the fact that I heard it involved music and that reminded me of the most boring book I picked up and ultimately DNFed last year, Passengers. But I will never doubt goddess Schwab ever again, because this book was just amazing.

There’s no such thing as safe in a city at war, a city overrun with monsters. In this dark urban fantasy from author Victoria Schwab, a young woman and a young man must choose whether to become heroes or villains—and friends or enemies—with the future of their home at stake. The first of two books.

Kate Harker and August Flynn are the heirs to a divided city—a city where the violence has begun to breed actual monsters. All Kate wants is to be as ruthless as her father, who lets the monsters roam free and makes the humans pay for his protection. All August wants is to be human, as good-hearted as his own father, to play a bigger role in protecting the innocent—but he’s one of the monsters. One who can steal a soul with a simple strain of music. When the chance arises to keep an eye on Kate, who’s just been kicked out of her sixth boarding school and returned home, August jumps at it. But Kate discovers August’s secret, and after a failed assassination attempt the pair must flee for their lives.

I’ve come to recognize Schwab’s writing style to almost be soothing. You’re probably like, Larkin has lost her mind and must be thinking of a different author. But fear not readers, I have not lost my mind… YET. Just kidding! Anyways, what I mean when I call her writing style soothing, I mean that it reads at a steady pace (or it does for me anyway). Even when there’s tons of action going on, the pacing never changes for me but just continues along. I think that really emphasized the darkness of this book, almost giving it a surreal quality while reading it. It made the tragedy of the situation that much more terrible and basically highlighting the fact that it can only end one way, tragically.

It’s time to just all agree that Schwab is the queen of strong and independent female characters. If you loved Lila Bard, then Kate Harker is going to be your next obsession. She’s incredibly strong, cunning, and full of enough snark and attitude to keep you grinning through the entire book. Yet, you can see how vulnerable she is. She’s just a typical teen looking for her father’s approval. Then you have August, who is in constant battle with himself to stay in control and not lose any of the little bit of humanity that he does have. He refuses to be the monster that he is. I found August to be one of, if not the most, complex character that I’ve read about so far this year. I really enjoyed being able to experience his struggles along with him. At times he seemed even more human than the actual humans. I especially loved his interactions with his fellow Sunai and being able to see the differences between each of them.

Kat+Lia.png

The world-building in this book was amazing. Schwab took the typical dystopian setting and completely turned it into something unique and engaging. The idea that our negative actions actually morph into physical monsters is such an interesting concept. You can see that Schwab was actually using this metaphor to commentate on the evil that occurs every single day. I love it.

I think my only issue with this book was that I struggled in the beginning to understand what was going on. You’re immediately thrown into the story and are not really explained as to what is happening until further on. I found myself confused by all of the different terms used to describe the monsters. Luckily, things do eventually get explained but I don’t think that happens until after about 50 pages into the story.

I totally recommend this book. It’s dark and isn’t full of rainbows and sunshine, but it will make you think and have you hooked from the very first page. If you haven’t read any of Schwab’s novels before now, I do recommend starting off with this duology to get a feel for her writing style. You will not be disappointed!

Final Verdict: 4/5 Stars

Have you read This Savage Song? What did you think of compared to Schwab’s other novels? Did you like August or Kate better?