*This article contains a review for an arc I was sent by Netgalley. All opinions and thoughts are my own and 100% honest.
Hello and happy February to you all! I hope so far your year has been filled with love, kindness and good books. I, for my part, participated in the “Among Us Readathon” created by my very good friend Halee. The readathon lasted from January 1st until the very last day of January. If you are interested in seeing my post where I briefly explained the readathon and shared my TBR click HERE.
So, for a recap, I had chosen to participate in the readathon as a “Orange Crewmate” which had seven tasks (prompts) which means you had to read seven books and finish al the seven tasks to win the round.
I am happy to report that I have completed all my tasks and have read seven different books! Let’s talk about them;
Start Reactor: read a book with romance (as little or as much as you wish)
The first book I picked up for the readathon; “Excuse me While I Ugly Cry by Joya Goffney”
If you read my original “Among Us” post, you may have noticed that Joya Goffney’s young adult romance wasn’t listed on my TBR as a choice for this prompt. A few days before then end of the year 2020, I was sent an EARC of “Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry” which comes out May 4th 2021. Since one of my goals for 2021 is to read the ARC I am given before their publication dates, I figured it was the perfect excuse to change my TBR a bit and pick up Joya’s debut “Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry”.
“Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry” is a debut novel that follows a Black teenager named Quinn who adores creating and making lists of everything and anything in her precious journal. One day, unfortunately, her journal goes missing and Quinn is blackmailed by an anonymous instagram account. The account is asking her to face her seven greatest fear or else they are going to post the entirety of the journal online. Quinn then decides to team up with the last known person to have had the journal; Carter.
I had heard nothing but good reviews for this book and was so excited when I saw I was sent an ARC for it, of course I had to immediately pick it up. The book has been said to have many great assets such as sexual tension, enemies to lovers, juicy secrets all the while discussing more serious and important issues like race and diversity.
My review; like I mentioned, I had received an ARC for this book in the form of an audiobook. I picked it up on the very first day of the readathon and was quickly interested in the story despite the narration sounding like google translator was reading the book. I felt like the narrator was showing no emotions at all and was very monotone to the point where I was seriously thinking the book was being read by an automated generated voice. But of course, I consumed this book via an unfinished copy so perhaps the final product of the audiobook will be more enjoyable.
The story itself on the other hand was a great read. I was pleasantly surprised with how invested I was in the story. I got everything I was expecting and more. the main character’s development was interesting to see and the talks and discussion about race and racism were in my opinion well done. Keep in mind that I am not a person of colour, therefore, my opinion on the way the book dealt with racism is NOT the one you should listen to or look up to. Everything else aside, I really enjoyed my time reading this book and would suggest it to anyone who is interested in reading about a Black teenage main character who deals with cyberbullying and racism all the while figuring out who she is and what she wants in life then this book is definitely for you.
Empty Garbage Part 1: read a book that you want to give a second chance to or a book low on your tbr
Then, I picked up via audio once again, Archenemies by Marissa Meyer.
When first picking up Renegades when it came out in 2017 (wow already 4 years ago?!?) I was really invested in the story and it’s characters but for some reason I never finished reading the second book “Archenemies”, this readathon was the perfect excuse to sit down and pick it up again.
The Renegades trilogy follows teenager Nova wwho, in a worl dwhere the renegades are known as the heores, Nova is on a mission to get revenge on the renegades amd bring justice for her family’s tragic death.
My review; I had a lot of fun with my reading of Archenemies. I won’t go into much detail because I wouldn’t want to spoil anyone who hasn’t read the books yet and plan to read them, but my time reading Archenemies was quite enjoyable. I love the world, the plot, the characters and the whole debate between heroes and villains. I love how the story makes you root for the villains at some points and them hate them during other times. It makes you constantly think about the perspectives of each characters on who is good and who is bad and gets to decide if you are good or bad which is what I love about a good fantasy/dystopian book.
Overall, this is a series I care a lot about and will definitely be continuing to read. Hopefully I can find the time in 2021 to read the third and final book in the trilogy; SuperNova. I’m excited to see where the story goes after the ending of book two. If you like super heroes, books with morally grey characters and intriguing political debates then this series is definitely for you.
Submit Scan: read a book that represents you/you see yourself in/comfort read (interpret as you wish)
Next, I picked up one of my all time favourite books; A Quite Kind Of Thunder by Sara Barnard.
This is the prompt I was most excited to get to because I have been waiting for a reason to pick up “A Quiet Kind Of Thunder” again. I first read this one in 2017 I believe, and fell completely in love with this book.
A Quiet Kind Of Thunder follows Steffi, a girl who deals with anxiety in the form of selective mutism. As someone who dealt with this issue as a child (on a smaller scale then Steffi) and still deals with general anxiety to this day, this book meant a lot to me not only because of the representation but because of how comforting the story is.
Overall, I had a really good time rereading this book that I consider to be one of my favourite books ever. I took my time reading it and carefully annotating it and it was a really great experience that I have been looking forward to since the first time I had picked up the book.
Upload Data Part 1: read a book that features LGBTQIA+ rep
Then, I picked up ‘Boyfriend Material’ by Alexis Hall and let me tell you how pleasently suprised I was by this.
I bought this book while it was one sale simply because I have no self control when I see a good deal. I knew i’d pick it up eventually but it wasn’t one of my priorities for the year and I honestly didn’t have many expectations going into it but it turned out to be a really fun feel-good kinda book that I read at the perfect time in my life.
This book follows one of my all time favorite trope which is the enemies to lover trope and the fake dating trope. The 2 main characters are quite polar opposite from each other. One is seen as successful lawyer with a great career ahead of him while the other one is seen as a junkie, partyer and no good-er. They meet due to having friends in mutual and decide it would be beneficial for the both of them to pretend to be boyfriends. But of course, things don’t go as planned and feelings get in the way.
I was really surprised to see how many queer characters this book features. The two main characters are both gay and they have bisexual, non binary, transgender and lesbian friends which is always nice to see in books. The book itself also briefly talked about homophobia a few times which I think was really important and well done.
This is a book I will be recommending quite a bit in the upcoming future!
Upload Data Part 2: read a book that was recommended to you (by a friend, your fav booktuber etc)
after that, i picked up a book I had very high expectations going into and that is none other than ‘Beartown’ by Frederik Backman.
There is no going around to say it, Frederik Backman’s books have a lot of hype surrounding them, many people who aren’t even big readers have said to have been moved by his stories and his prose. Plus, this being the absolute favourite book of my good friend Sara who talks about it pretty much non stop, I had really high expectations going into it and guess what; It did not disappoint.
First of all, this book talked to me in many ways, first being that I am also from a small town in canada where hockey is extremely important for most people.
When I turned the book open to the first page and read the very first sentence, i knew immediately this book would become one of my favourite ones. The writing, the prose, everything about beartown is written in such a beautiful way i honestly have no words to describe how many emotions the writing itself made me feel.
I do have to say it took me a bit longer than it usually does to get into the story but that could be due to the fact that this book does talk about heavy triggering content which were one of the things that kept me from picking it up for such a long time. It is also a adult fiction book which is not something i usually pick up so I do think all those things played a role in my getting invested into the story but nonetheless, when i was finally invested in the story, i ate it up and loved every single minute of my time reading it.
***** If you think about picking this up please quickly research the trigger warnings for this one as it might be triggering for you. Feel free to DM me if you want to talk about them or have any questions, I’ll be happy to help.
Swipe Card OR Fix Wiring: read a standalone OR read a sequel
Then, I picked up, via audiobook, the sequel to a book I adored with all my heart when I read it last year; The Devil’s Thief by Lisa Maxwell.
I can’t discuss much about this book without going into spoilers, but OMG that was amazing. Lisa Maxwell has a way with words and story telling that I just can’t explain how good this was.
First of all, we have magic, slow burn romance, time traveling, morally grey characters, character development, strong emotions, and so much more. When I first read ”The Last Magician” in 2020, I completely fell in love with the characters, the world and especially the magic system. This series as a whole is just soo well written and so mind blowing, I highly HIGHLY suggest you pick it up, you won’t be disappointed.
Empty Garbage Part 2: read a book with food on the cover
And finally, the very last prompt was to read a book with food on the cover. If you have seen my TBR post for the readathon, then you might notice that I picked up a book that was on my tbr but for another prompt. The boom I picked up was ”Mooncakes”, a graphic novel written by Suzanne Walker.
Mooncakes is my favourite graphic novel of all time and one of my top five favourite books ever. I picked this one up instead of the two that were on my original TBR because I needed a comfort read and a shorter book as time was moving quickly and I still had a few prompts left to conquer.
My time rereading this one was not only a lot of fun, it was extremely needed. This graphic novel is the cutest sapphic/queer love story ever. It is filled with cute and adorable characters, whom are diverse and authentic as well as magical creatures and witches. There is honestly nothing else I could ask for in a graphic novel and I wish more people would talk about it because it deserves more hype.
Mooncakes is one of those books you can always go back to and know you will enjoy it every single time. The illustrations as beautiful and everything about it is great, HIGHLY recommend you pick it up!
Soooooooo that is it for PART ONE of the Among Us Readathon that was created by my friend Hal. Please give them a follow and all the love in the world because they truly deserve it for all the amazing work they put into creating this readathon.
If you have participated in the readathon and haven’t entered the books you have read in the google docs Hal created you still have time!!! 👇🏻👇🏼👇🏽👇🏾👇🏿
Stats of the month
7 books read, 1 ARC, 3053 pages read
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To all my subscribers; Thank you for your support and your continuous love, you mean the world to me. ps; I will be posting different days and at different times for the next few weeks as i'm trying to see which day / what time has better traffic..
seven late night thoughts with zoe 
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