#12DaysofDiversity ReadAThon TBR!

Morning Loves,

So I’ve been visibly MIA lately. Life has gotten the better of me and I’ve put the blog on the back burner for a bit. This is also true of my social media presence. I hope you all stay with me as I take some time between now and the end of the semester from the blog. I’m going to do my best to stay as connected and as involved as I can. I’m thinking I’ll be picking back up once I’m done this semester since I’ll be all moved back home and on my last semester of grad school. I have been reading in between just not reviewing, BUT I’m hoping to catch up!

So thank you to everyone who’s stayed with me in the lull and who’s joined me as well! I appreciate having you all here and being able to interact with you! I’m truly thankful for this community!

On that note! Here’s my TBR for an awesome ReadAThon coming up!

The #12DaysofDiversity Christmas ReadAThon is hosted by author Julia Ember (Unicorn Tracks). I’m going to be participating in the Reindeer challenge versus the Bad Santa challenge since I’m not sure how much time I’ll have with the holidays.

Challenge: Read a book for each category and tag on an extra one for a total of 6 books to read!
When: December 19-30

Click here for more info on this awesome ReadAThon and see below for my picks!

The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi

Fate and fortune. Power and passion. What does it take to be the queen of a kingdom when you’re only seventeen?

Maya is cursed. With a horoscope that promises a marriage of death and destruction, she has earned only the scorn and fear of her father’s kingdom. Content to follow more scholarly pursuits, her whole world is torn apart when her father, the Raja, arranges a wedding of political convenience to quell outside rebellions. Soon Maya becomes the queen of Akaran and wife of Amar. Neither roles are what she expected: As Akaran’s queen, she finds her voice and power. As Amar’s wife, she finds something else entirely: Compassion. Protection. Desire…

But Akaran has its own secrets—thousands of locked doors, gardens of glass, and a tree that bears memories instead of fruit. Soon, Maya suspects her life is in danger. Yet who, besides her husband, can she trust? With the fate of the human and Otherworldly realms hanging in the balance, Maya must unravel an ancient mystery that spans reincarnated lives to save those she loves the most…including herself. (synopsis from GoodReads) 

Shadows on the Moon by Zoë Marriott

A powerful tale of magic, love and revenge with a strong female lead set in fairy-tale Japan; this is “Cinderella” meets “Memoirs of a Geisha”. Trained in the magical art of shadow-weaving, sixteen-year-old Suzume is able to recreate herself in any form – a fabulous gift for a girl desperate to escape her past. But who is she really? Is she a girl of noble birth living under the tyranny of her mother’s new husband, Lord Terayama, or a lowly drudge scraping a living in the ashes of Terayama’s kitchens, or Yue, the most beautiful courtesan in the Moonlit Lands? Whatever her true identity, Suzume is destined to capture the heart of a prince – and determined to use his power to destroy Terayama. And nothing will stop her, not even love. (synopsis from GoodReads) 

Ash by Malinda Lo

Cinderella retold

In the wake of her father’s death, Ash is left at the mercy of her cruel stepmother. Consumed with grief, her only joy comes by the light of the dying hearth fire, rereading the fairy tales her mother once told her. In her dreams, someday the fairies will steal her away, as they are said to do. When she meets the dark and dangerous fairy Sidhean, she believes that her wish may be granted.

The day that Ash meets Kaisa, the King’s Huntress, her heart begins to change. Instead of chasing fairies, Ash learns to hunt with Kaisa. Though their friendship is as delicate as a new bloom, it reawakens Ash’s capacity for love-and her desire to live. But Sidhean has already claimed Ash for his own, and she must make a choice between fairy tale dreams and true love.

Entrancing, empowering, and romantic, Ash is about the connection between life and love, and solitude and death, where transformation can come from even the deepest grief. (synopsis from GoodReads)

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

 Grace Lin, author of the beloved Year of the Dog and Year of the Rat, returns with a wondrous story of happiness, family, and friendship. A fantasy crossed with Chinese folklore, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is a timeless adventure story in the classic tradition of The Wizard of Oz.

In the Valley of Fruitless Mountain, a young girl named Minli spends her days working hard in the fields and her nights listening to her father spin fantastic tales about the Jade Dragon and the Old Man of the Moon. Minli’s mother, tired of their poor life, chides him for filling her head with nonsense. But Minli believes these enchanting stories and embarks on an extraordinary journey to find the Old Man of the Moon and ask him how her family can change their fortune. She encounters an assorted cast of characters and magical creatures along the way, including a dragon who accompanies her on her quest. (synopsis from GoodReads)

Hunting Monsters by S. L. Huang

 “Happy birthday, child. Careful not to shoot any grundwirgen.”

Ever since she was a small girl, she has learned to be careful on the hunt, to recognize the signs that separate regular animals from human-cursed grundwirgen. To harm a grundwirgen is a crime punishable by death by the King’s decree – a fatal mistake that her Auntie Rosa and mother have carefully prepared her to avoid.

On her fifteenth birthday, when her mother is arrested and made to stand trial for grundwirgen murder, everything she thought she knew about her family and her past comes crashing down.

Auntie Rosa has always warned her about monsters. Now, she must find and confront them to save her mother, no matter the cost. (synopsis from GoodReads)

For this one, I’m torn between two books so I’ll either read them both or just choose by my mood 🙂

Of Metal and Wishes by Sarah Fine

 There are whispers of a ghost in the slaughterhouse where sixteen-year-old Wen assists her father in his medical clinic—a ghost who grants wishes to those who need them most. When one of the Noor, men hired as cheap factory labor, humiliates Wen, she makes an impulsive wish of her own, and the Ghost grants it. Brutally.

Guilt-ridden, Wen befriends the Noor, including their outspoken leader, a young man named Melik. At the same time, she is lured by the mystery of the Ghost and learns he has been watching her… for a very long time.

As deadly accidents fuel tensions within the factory, Wen must confront her growing feelings for Melik, who is enraged at the sadistic factory bosses and the prejudice faced by his people at the hand of Wen’s, and her need to appease the Ghost, who is determined to protect her against any threat—real or imagined. She must decide whom she can trust, because as her heart is torn, the factory is exploding around her… and she might go down with it. (synopsis from GoodReads)

Street Love by Walter Dean Myers

 A story of star-crossed urban love by two-time National Book Award finalist Walter Dean Myers. Have you ever loved someone from the wrong side of the tracks? Damien has everything going for him. His family wants him to date Roxanne. He falls for Junice, whose life is totally messed up. But Junice tells him that he’s the one who needs the reality check. Sometimes the greatest obstacle to finding true love is ourselves. Harlem meets Shakespeare in this fresh, original free-verse novel. (synopsis from GoodReads).

Your first love is totally wrong for you.
Do you follow your heart?
Or do you run away?

Junice

What am I doing? He’ll take one quick look
And wish he was anywhere else but here
I’m already ashamed of what I think
He will think of me, of the life I lead

Damien

Yes, she is the fruit that will
Sustain me and yes, she brings
A rain that I know can chill
But it is a rain so sweet and sings
A song my soul insists
That I follow, if I would exist
As more than I have ever, ever been
If my mother calls it evil, then I embrace the sin (synopsis from Amazon) 

Let me know if you’re participating in this awesome ReadAThon! I’m excited to dig into these diverse retellings! Let me know if you’ve read any of these or what books you’ve picked for the ReadAThon!

On a different note, let me know how you are! I hope you are all doing well! Maybe I’ll do a life recap post so we can all catch up 🙂 But really let me know how you’re doing!

As always,

Happy Reading!