Soooo I found out yesterday about a fantastic, epic readathon called "The Book Junkie Trials" hosted by Rachel Marie. The idea is pretty simple: you are sorted into a team and then follow a map quest completing prompts to move to the next 'location'. The idea is lovely and I can't wait until next week to fully start!! Head over here to learn about the readathon. They have a drive folder featuring all the maps and the reading tracker you have to use to log in  your finished reads. It's is a very organised event and I'm excited to participate in it!!

I'm proud team #scribe, a team led by Sophiesticated Books, Duchess of Scribes. 

Who are the scribes you might ask?

Scribes are professional chroniclers who write accounts of important or historical events. They follow where the action is. However, they have been known to give rather conflicting accounts of battles, depending upon which side they favour.

ABILITY: The ability to rewrite their tale. Their unique ability is to read a book that wasn’t on their declared TBR.

WEAKNESS As scribes spend so much time documenting their findings, one of their challenges will take MUCH longer than normal. Read a book over 500 pages.

Happy Sunday & Happy Father's Day!!

I always enjoy looking around for new books to lose myself into. Whether it's fantasy, biography or romance, I love reading reviews here at Booklikes and adding stuff in my to be read pile. And that's the beauty of this site and how it stands out from goodreads, for example. It encourages discussion more I think, without promoting the 'most read' or the 'most anticipated' books. There is nothing wrong with those kind of lists, but I always find that I enjoy digging around to find my next read. And what better way than reading a passionate review by someone whose opinion you respect?

Inspired by posts by Moonlight Reader and Irresponsible Reader, I wanted to start another sort of weekly book discussion: I will think of a prompt and you can share your book experience related to it. It can be either a book you want to read or a book you can't stop talking about and just need another excuse to recommend it. Feel free to come up with your own idea prompts and don't forget to tag it "sundaybookprompt". My hope is to get to know each other a little bit better and of course discover great books in the process!

White ribbons for the young girls, red for the grace year girls, and black for the wives.
Innocence. Blood. Death.❞

The Grace Year has gotten already a lot of hype. Pitched as a combination of two very popular books you can easily see why. Heck, this is why I requested an ARC in the first place.

However, I was disappointed in the end, as in my personal opinion, the book needs more polish. I could fill this review with things I liked, with highlighted quotes, but I won't. Sure, the society depicted is very dark and the author walks you through the story with a lot of skill giving you snippets of the way things work, but (that dreadful word) a lot of the relationships felt a) predictable and b) not fully fleshed out.

And that's mainly where the book was weak: the characters. From the main protagonist, whom we follow trying to piece the story together, to the side characters, who are in the end just that: side characters.

Additionally, there were a lot of instances when I wanted to know more about them, which brings me to another problem I had with the book: the pacing. I read the story on a kindle, which showed the reading progress in the corner. At around 70%, the pace picked up and by the end I felt like whole sections were skipped. Even the ending left more to be desired.

Overall, this will be discussed a lot when it will be published eventually in the fall. It will probably be hailed as one of the best blends of dystopian and feminist books ever. I won't be in that crowd. I will tell you what I honestly thought of it: it's an enjoyable read that has its moments and all the makings of a great book, hence the 3 ½ stars but it's far from the best ever written. 

Usually calibre is a great way to keep track of all my books, both digital and physical copies (I even have a catalog for my audiobooks as well) but I want a more visual way  to keep track of all the stuff I borrow/buy/preorder. 

 ✒ Keep in mind that the titles are available only within a specific time frame - so hurry!

 ✒ See all offered books here.

Description

by Mary Roach | Read by Emily Woo Zeller

Published by Tantor Audio

Description

by Ursula Dubosarsky | Read by Kate Rudd

Published by Candlewick on Brilliance Audio

There were only eleven of them, like eleven sisters all the same age in a large family.... On the television news they heard gunfire and the sound of helicopter blades and bombs falling. The little girls hung on to the brink of a hugeness that they knew was there but had no way of discovering. The Vietnam War rages overseas, but back at home, in a year that begins with the hanging of one man and ends with the drowning of another, eleven schoolgirls embrace their own chilling history when their teacher abruptly goes missing on a field trip. Who was the mysterious poet they met in the garden? What actually happened that day? And most important, who can they tell about it? In beautifully crafted prose that shimmers and fades, Ursula Dubosarsky reveals how a single shared experience can alter the course of young lives forever. Part gripping thriller, part ethereal tale of innocence lost, The Golden Day is a poignant study of fear and friendship, and of what it takes to come of age with courage.