2020 O.W.L. Magical Read-a-Thon Wrap Up

I didn't think I would finish all 12 prompts, but I ended up finishing the last 2 books today!  As usual I ended up with way to many things on my plate book-wise, and work has been really cutting into my reading time.  So while I didn't end up reading everything I planned I was still able to finish all the prompts.  

I did finish all the books I needed for the Culinary Sorcery Career and the Locomotive Operator Certificate.  I had some other books left over so I decided those could fit for the Legal Defense of Fantastic Beasts because you never know when that will come in handy.  

Did you finish all your OWLs and get your career?  

What I read

These books don't fulfil a career or an extra course but they do fill an OWL.

• Ancient Runes - Heart Run: Heart on the cover or in the title
• The Heart of Shadows by Marco Cosimo d'Amico
• 
• This is a strange little graphic novel with a great message about fear.  The style isn't my favorite, but I can see how it is appealing to kids.
• Astronomy - Night Classes:  Read the majority of this book when it's dark outside
• Food Wars by Yuto Tsukuda
• 
• I picked this up for another reading challenge and I thought I'd really enjoy this because it's about food.  This just really isn't my taste and I didn't enjoy it.
• Divination - Third Eye: Assign Numbers to your TBR and use a random number generator to pick your read
• 
• I kind of cheated with this one and let the library do my picking for me.  You never know when your holds are going to come due so I went with Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire.  This takes us back to the world of Jack and Jill and the kids from Eleanor's school have to help save the day yet again.  
•  Transfiguration - Animagus Lecture:  Book/Series that includes shapeshifting
• Wild Wolf Mate by Dianna Love
• 
• This is book 5 of the League of Gallize series.  I had it for review, and since I had just finished books 1&2 for another prompt I gave it a go.  I really like this series.  If you like steamy shifter romances this is a good one to pick up.

Culinary Sorcerer

I ended up finishing all of the prompts at the last minute.  I didn't think I was going to make it, but I was able to swap out 

• Arithmancy - Magical Qualities of #2: Read something outside your favorite genre
• Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
• 
• I didn't love this, but I learned alot about the books and the political and culture.  The author narrates the book, but I would have preferred that a voice actor narrated it.  Despite her heated opinions on certain subjects, that didn't come through in her narration.
• Charms - Lumos Maxima: White Cover
• I planned on reading Ruthless Gods by Emily A. Duncan.  I'm currently reading it now so I decided to read a short story by Mark Lawrence instead.  I read During the Dance, which is a beautiful short story, which is available for free on Amazon.
• 
• Herbology - Mimbulus Mimbletonia: A title that starts with M
• Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey
• 
• I like Gailey's works, but I didn't love this one.  
• Potions - Shrinking Solution: A book under 150 pages
• The Black God's Drums by P. Djeli Clark
• 
• This was an excellent mix of historical fiction, sci-fi, mythology, and fantasy.  I loved it!

Locomotive Operator

• Defense Against the Dark Arts - Grindylows: A Book Set at the Sea/Coast
• I had planned on reading A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow, but I ended up reading The Deep by Rivers Solomon.  The Deep was a cool novella, that I feel like you really need to read multiple times before you really absorb the entire story.  I highly recommend the audiobook!
• 
• Muggle Studies - A Book from the perspective of a Muggle (Contemporary)
• The Treble with Men by Piper Sheldon
• 
• This was my favorite book of April!  It has a Phantom of the Opera vibe and I really loved the characters.  

Legal Defense of Fantastic Beasts  

• Hippogriffs: Creature with a beak on the cover
• The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang
• 
• This is the sequel to The Poppy War, which I loved!  This is kind of slow, but it finally picks up towards the end and leaves you needing the next book.  This book is a journey for sure, but it is a journey worth taking.
• Witch Hunts: Book featuring witches/wizards
• League of Gallize Shifters: Box Set One by Dianna Love
• 
• This whole series deals with shapeshifters of different kinds.  The Gallize are a special sect of shifters with extra special powers working and always willing to save the day.  This is a fairly steamy romance series as well, but fear not it isn't overly fluffy.  The female leads are strong and intelligent and just as awesome as their partners.  While not prominent characters in the books, there is a witch/wizard element to the storyline.

Magical Readathon OWLs/April 2020 TBR

It is that time of year again for the OWLs and the Magical Readathon.

Check out Book Roast's O.W.L.'s Magical Readathon 2020 Announcement, she is the creator of this awesome read-a-thon and all of the prompts, rules, and the amazing career guide she made are all posted in the description box of her video.   There have been some updates to the career guide this year and G has added some extras courses you can take.

All of the prompts are new, and whatever career you pick in April, will help guide you on what you should read in August for NEWTs.

There are 12 prompts and I'm going to try to fill in as many as I can in April, but based on the ARCs I'm committed to already and what I plan on reading for my reading challenges I chose the career of Culinary Sorcerer and taking the Locomotive Operator Course.

My TBR

Culinary Sorcerer

• Arithmancy - Magical Qualities of #2: Read something outside your favorite genre
• Reading Lolita in Tehran - Azar Nafisi
• This is about a group of female students in Iran who gathered illegally to hold a book club to read forbidden Western classics.
• Charms - Lumos Maxima: White Cover
• Ruthless Gods by Emily A. Duncan
• This is the sequel to Wicked Saints and I was lucky enough to get an ARC.  I'm anxious to get back to this dark fantasy world.
• Herbology - Mimbulus Mimbletonia: A title that starts with M
• Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey
• I've been on a Sarah Gailey binge lately.  I've really liked her other works.  This has magic and mystery.  It sounds perfect.
• Potions - Shrinking Solution: A book under 150 pages
• The Black God's Drums by P. Djeli Clark
• This is supposed to have some historical elements as well as some sci-fi/fantasy elements.  I've only heard good things.

Locomotive Operator

• Defense Against the Dark Arts - Grindylows: A Book Set at the Sea/Coast
• A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow
• This comes out in June and is about sirens.  
• Muggle Studies - A Book from the perspective of a Muggle (Contemporary)
• The Treble with Men by Piper Sheldon
• This comes out on April 7th and is one of the Smartypants Romance books from the spring release.  This is the second book in the Scorned Women Society series.  This promises a romance centered around music composition.

I have some other books on my TBR that will fit other prompts, so we'll see if I can actually finish

N.E.W.T.s Magical Read-a-Thon TBR

I participated in the O.W.L.s in April, and now it is time for the N.E.W.T.s.  Any Harry Potter fan will know what I'm talking about.  If you don't have a clue what I'm talking about, NEWTs are the Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests that 7th year students take at Hogwarts to determine their magical career paths upon graduation.

If you want more information about the Magical Read-a-Thon go check out Book Roast's announcement video.  She does such an amazing job with all of the prompts the documents she creates.

So when I took my O.W.L.s back in April, I picked Magizoologist as my career path based on what I thought my initial TBR would be.  I did end up finishing all the reading prompts (see what I read), so I think I can pick any career in the guide depending on how many N.E.W.T.s I finish in August.  I'm going to stick with the original plan and try to use the ARCs I've got coming up for fall and some of the books I was planning on reading for the Popsugar and Read Harder Challenges.  As I read other things I'll pencil in where they fit on my sheet to see what else I can finish.

There is also a group read book that you can use to fill in any prompt, Spellslinger by Sebastien de Castell.  Not sure if I'll get to this one, but it sounds interesting.

Keeping with the Magizoologist plan, that means I need receive the following marks on my NEWTs

• O in Care of Magical Creatures
• E in Charms
• E in Herbology

Below are the prompts and the books I plan to read to achieve the required marks to become a Magizoologist:

Magical Creatures Prompts

• Book title that starts with  letter A
• Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
• Book under 300 pages
• The Hanged Man and the Fortune Teller by Lucy Banks
• Goodreads says this is 256 pages
• Read a book with a bird on the cover
• Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin

Charms Prompts

• Read a book that you think has a gorgeous cover
• Verity by Colleen Hoover
• Read a comic/graphic novel/manga (book under 150 pages)
• Star Mage Vol 2 by J.C De La Torre and Facundo Percio
• I read volume 1 for the OWLs but I think I'm going to read the version that has issues 1-6 because they are really short.

Herbology Prompts

• Listen to an audiobook
• Vengeful by V.E. Schwab
• Read a book between 350-390 pages
• The Furies by Katie Lowe
• Goodreads lists this at 368 pages

O.W.L. Magical Read-a-Thon Wrap Up

So I stumbled across this read-a-thon about a week into April, and realized that I could participate too.  I have been horrible about posting on twitter and instagram but I'm still doing all the prompts.   My original TBR only had a few books on it, but as the month progressed I realized I could complete more of the prompts than I initially realized.  Towards the end of the month I was struggling to finish a few of the prompts, so I turned to graphic novels because I knew I could finish them quickly.  This was such a fun read-a-thon!

What I Read

• Ancient Runes - Retelling
• Unhappily Ever After (The Librarian #2) by Eric Hobbs
• OK technically I cheated on this one, I started this one in March, but I read most of it in April.
• 
• Arithmancy - Work Written by More than One Author
• Hotel Dare by Terry Blas (author) and Claudia Aguirre (illustrator)
• 
• Astronomy - "Star" in the Title
• Star Mage #1 by J.C. De La Torre (author) and Ray Dillon (illustrator)
• 
• Care of Magical Creatures - Land Animal on the Cover
• The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden
• 
• Charms - Age-line: Read an adult work
• The Guest Book by Sarah Blake
• I cheated a bit on this one too, I finished it on May 2nd.  It was almost 500 pages and took me almost all month to read.  
• 
• Defense Against the Dark Arts - Reducto: Title Starts with an R
• Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian by Avi Steinberg
• 
• Divination - Set in the Future
• Skyward. Vol. 1: My Low-G Life by Joe Henderson, Lee Garbett, and Antonio Fabela
• 
• Herbology - Plant on the Cover
• Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
• 
• History of Magic - Published at least 10 years ago
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee 
• 
• Muggle Studies - Contemporary
• Things We Never Said by Samantha Young 
• 
• Potions - Next Ingredient: Sequel
• Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
• 
• Transfiguration - Sprayed Edged or Red Cover
• The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor
• 

Check out Book Roast for all of the info on the readathon.

April Wrap Up

I will say that April has been a pretty successful reading month.  I finished 10 books and 6 audiobooks.  I reviewed a few ARCs, and I found the OWL read-a-thon, and knocked off several of my reading challenge prompts.  Considering I went on vacation for a week and didn't really read for a whole week and I've been very busy with work and life in general I'm really happy with how much I got done this month.

I'll be posting a wrap up for the OWL read-a-thon challenges later this week, but most of these books fit a prompt or I added to fill a prompt.  I'm enjoying stepping out of my comfort zone with these read-a-thons and challenges to find really great reads.

Books/Ebooks/ARCs

• Unhappily Ever After (The Librarian #2) by Eric Hobbs
• Review
• This was a great retelling of The Wizard of Oz.  I've been meaning to read this forever and I'm glad I finally got to it.  It is darker than the first book, but I still enjoyed it.  The kids have to put the story back the way it was as their good hearted change had unintended consequences in the real world.
• Hotel Dare by Terry Blas and Claudia Aguirre (illustrator)
• I won a copy of this via a Book Riot giveaway.  Huge thanks to KaBoom and imprint of Boom Studios for hosting the giveaway and sending me an ARC.  This is a YA graphic novel.  It has some mythology, sci-fi, and my only complaint is that it wasn't long enough.  For kids it was probably the perfect length to keep their attention, I just didn't want it to end, I wanted it to keep going.  That is more of a compliment than a complaint.  This was highly entertaining and beautifully illustrated. 
• The Guest Book by Sarah Blake
• Review
• Technically I'm not done with this, but I'll finish it tomorrow.  This is due out on May 7th.  It mainly follows Ogden Milton and his offspring through time starting in 1935.   The timeline and perspective jumps around, I prefer a more linear timeline or for several chapters to stay in one time period or another so I can engage with one set of characters.  I found it hard to stay focused because it switches years or character almost every chapter.  The story and characters were interesting and the history is really well done.
• Things We Never Said by Samantha Young
• Review
• This is the third book in Sam's On Hart's Boardwalk Series.  This is due out on May 7th.  I really loved Dahlia and her story is heartbreaking.  This book was really emotional.  This series makes you feel like you are a part of the community and every time you read one of the books it is like coming home after a long trip.  If you like romance you have to give this a shot.
• Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
• Review
• My son and I both really enjoyed Nevermoor.  He devoured this as soon as I brought it home from the library.  I think he read it in 24 hours and it has been killing him not to tell me what happened.  This is a bit darker as Morrigan learns about wunder and the legacy she is inheriting from past Wundersmiths.  She is also learning the ins and outs of the Wunderous Society and learning to interact with other people.  There is a conspiracy within her unit and Morrigan is again at the center of all of the bad things happening.  I really enjoy this series.  I can't wait for the next one.
• Time by Penny Reid
• Review
• I this came out on April 15th.  This completes The Laws of Physics trilogy.  I'm sad it is over, but I'm happy that Mona and Abram got the ending they deserved.  I'm also holding out that Penny will give us more stories from this series hopefully Allyn and Poe will show up in the future with books of their own.  This covers a ton of issues and wraps up many of the outstanding issues Mona and Abram have with each other and with other people.
• When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities by Chen Chen
• I'm not a big poetry reader, but I enjoyed most of these.  The poems are fairly straightforward and I liked that.  I didn't have to struggle to figure out the meaning, it was usually right there in your face what he was talking about.  Sometimes the poems weren't to my taste, but I found his writing style for the most part to flow nicely and his writing to be beautiful.  This fulfils the Read Harder prompt for a collection of poetry that has been published since 2014.   
• Skyward. Vol. 1: My Low-G Life by Joe Henderson, Lee Garbett, and Antonio Fabela
• I read this for the OWL readathon.  I was watching Hardback Hoarder's Library Haul video and she mentioned it as set in the future which is a prompt I was struggling with.  This is pretty entertaining and the plot is interesting.  Gravity is basically broken and the main character has to fix it in future volumes.  It was a quick read and I'll be checking out volume 2 soon.
• Star Mage #1 by J.C. De La Torre (author) and Ray Dillon (illustrator)
• This has a lot of potential.  I'm not a big comic reader so maybe because I've only read omnibuses I felt like this was over before it had a chance to get started.  It was only 24 pages, so by the time we find anything out about the main character it was over.  Fortunately this is a little older and the other issues are available.  This was another OWL prompt read.
• The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor
• Review
• This was an impromptu read, but it fit into my OWL challenge for a book with a red cover.  I was watching  BooksandLala Trash my TBR update and she recommended it because so many of her subscribers said it was a good thriller and that she would like it.  It is a short little book and follows a group of friends in the in the 1986 and 2016 through a series of weird events.  It is told from the perspective of Ed, one of the friends, who has his own strange experience.  It is captivating and I didn't want to put down this creepy, thriller.   

Audiobooks

• City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab
• I really enjoyed this.  If you are looking for a middle grade/YA ghost story I recommend this.  It isn't very long, but I really enjoyed it.  I can't wait for the next one.  This installment is set in Scotland and the main character can travel between the world of the living and the dead.  
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• I'm so glad I finally took the time to enjoy this.  It was such an impactful book.  It was hard to listen to at times, but the writing is beautiful and the message is so important.  I now understand why it is the winner of so many awards and the #1 book on The Great American Reads list.  The audio is excellent, I highly recommend it.
• Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
• I listened to this right after To Kill a Mockingbird and I don't think it is as good.  As a sequel it just doesn't stand up.  The plot doesn't always match up and the message just isn't as good.  Knowing that this was written first and never intended to be published by the author that makes a lot of sense.  Lee's writing is beautiful and the narration is wonderful.  Had I not read them back to back, this might have been OK, but it just isn't as good as Mockingbird and you can tell it was written first and just isn't as good.
• The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden 
• I love this series.  I was worried Vasya wasn't going to play a part in the beginning, but this tale involves her brother and sister as much as it does her.  We get to know Sasha and Olga a bit more as well as many other characters.  Vasya is still up to her antics of not being a prim and proper maiden and getting herself into predicaments.  I still love the folklore behind this series and can't wait for the next one.  
• Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian by Avi Steinberg
• This fulfils the prompt for a book written in prison.  I don't think he actually wrote this while he was working in the prison, but we are going with it.  I also read Dr. King's Letter from Birmingham Jail, so I'm covered there.  This is a memoir of a very well educated, Orthodox Jewish man, who after giving up his faith finds himself needing a job that pays better than the one he's got.  He applies to be a prison librarian, and these are the tales which are quite raw and real of his experience there.  The narrator does quite a great job of capturing the personalities of the inmates.  
• The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
• This has gotten a ton of hype.  I admit I didn't know much about the plot, but I kept hearing how scary it was.  This is a work of literary fiction, and while there are plenty of harsh conditions and graphic situations (read trigger warnings) this is by no means a horror novel.  The characters experience very real fear based on the things they are experiencing in the wild Alaskan territory.  I'm not a big literary fiction reader and while this is extremely well written it just isn't the type of book I prefer.  It is very good, just not the type of book I normally go for.

O.W.L. Read-a-thon and TBR

So I keep seeing these O.W.L. TBR video's on Book-tube and I haven't watched any of them, until today.  I watched Pages and Pens TBR earlier today and realized I am missing out on an amazing and magical readathon.  So naturally I went down the TBR video rabbit hole, and I realized this is totally something I can do in the month of April.  Several of the O.W.L prompts fit right in with what I'm already planning on reading. 

Check out Book Roast's O.W.L.'s Magical Readathon 2019 Announcement, she is the creator of this awesome read-a-thon and all of the prompts, rules, and the amazing career guide she made are all posted in the description box of her video.   I really admire all of her creativity and the work she has put into creating the materials. 

Based on the books I plan on reading in April I think that makes my career path a Magizoologist.

My TBR

• Care of Magical Creatures - Land Animal on the Cover
• The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden 
• Charms - Age-line: Read an adult work
• The Guest Book by Sarah Blake
• History of Magic - Published at least 10 years ago
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee 
• Muggle Studies - Contemporary
• Things We Never Said by Samantha Young 
• Potions - Next Ingredient: Sequel
• Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend