Readathons - Where Do I Stand?

The majority of people who blog about books or partake in 'BookTube', will have participated in a readathon at least once. Or have heard of readathons at the very least. There are so many out and about in the world of book reviewing (be it blog, video or tweets), that I thought I would have my own little say on them, because why not ey?

Readathons, for those who don't know, are periods of time where you read books following a certain theme (usually). For example, some people do an author readathon, where they read ONLY that author (I'm currently doing that myself partially with Stephen King books). Others will do readathons with common themes such as dystopian, YA (Young Adult), LGBT, mental illness, disability, to name but a few. This allows the reader to choose their own books by their own preferred authors on a topic they all have in common. There are also two more types of readathon: a free-style one, and a slightly-structured-but-not-strict one. For a free-style readathon, the participants read whatever the heck they want, and this tends to be in readathons such as Deweys 24-hour readathon (I suggest looking up Little Book Owl on YouTube for more info, found here). For this readathon in particular, you have 24 hours to read whatever you want. The pieces you read can be graphic novels, manga, fiction, non-fiction, long, short - you get the picture. The choice is yours. And the best bit? It's usually organised to suit your time zone, for example from 2am April 3rd to 2am April 4th. This tends to work best for people with busy schedules who need to just relax for a day or two, and it's particularly helpful if arranged for a weekend! For our slightly-structured-but-not-strict-one, I've chosen RYBSAT as an example. RYBSAT stands for Read Your Book Shelf A Thon, and happens regularly around the year (videos can be found here). In this readathon, the rules are simple: pick a point on your bookshelf, and just read. Which is good, particularly if you pick a point on your shelf where there are a number of shorter books!

So, now we've explained the various types of readathons (I'd like to point out this is not an exclusive list, and there are a number of other readathons happening every single day which are great), what's my thoughts on them?

Well, I kinda, sorta, LOVE them. I love them so much, I've done a couple of my own. Granted, they haven't taken off as well as others, but I benefited from them, which is what counts really. For example, I'm currently doing the Season of Stephen King, where I'm just reading Stephen King books. BUT, as this is a lengthly readathon, I'm reading other items alongside it so I don't get bored. Which is very likely to happen.

For me, readathons are s beneficial to those taking part. They're excellent for those who are trying to hit their reading goals and are falling behind, or are good for a bit of a kick up the bum if you're feeling slumpish. Well, they're just fun in general to be honest!


So there we have it! My thoughts on readathons. Do you know of any readathons, or take part in some I haven't mentioned? Let me know down below so I can find out more!

REVIEW || Last Light by CJ Lyons

*** I was approached by the author with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way influences my thoughts and opinions.***

In this novel, we follow Lucy, a former FBI agent who has been given the opportunity to lead an office-based task force solving crimes from the past. Which is great for Lucy really. During her FBI days, she and her family were targeted by a violent predator, leaving Lucy with a life-altering injury. However, when Lucy hears of the case her taskforce are trying to crack, she can't resist going back out onto the open road to try and crack the case. Along with her team, Lucy tries to solve the case of a murder from 29 years prior, which sees her travel to rural Texas to discover who actually murdered Lily Martin and her family. As she and TK, a former Marine who struggles with her life transition from action to rural life, do the field work in Texas, not all is as it seems in Blackwell County, and the further the investigation develops, the more foul play arises.

*This review may contain spoilers*

I've been updating my status a lot on Goodreads as and when I find something incredibly interesting happening in the plot, which actually turns out to be the majority of the time! These updates can be found here (granted, they are short and snappy and trying to predict the killer but still, "called it!").

I don't know why I didn't pick this up sooner. It's fast-paced, action around every corner and has an average reading speed time of roughly 3 hours on Kindle. That's an afternoon. Not long at all! The book reminded me of a crime series episode (take your pick, an hour long, typical setup), which kept my attention well and could be paused at any time. It was so easy to pick back up again after setting down, that I had no concern over leaving it a few days just because I 'wasn't in the mood for reading' (it happens to the best of us).

***SPOILERS***

I adored the character development throughout the book, with perhaps the most surprising development coming from TK. I expected her to be a hard nut to crack, constantly fighting this imaginary battle in her head. However, when she met David, it was easily noticeable that she softened ever so slightly. He taught her to ease up a little and not take things so serious, got her to unwind at the bar, although it did end in arrest! The fact that the novel went from being all about solving the crime to also solving TK's own personal crisis was a wonderful touch from the author also.

***SPOILERS END***

Overall, I'm going to give this novel 4 out of 5 stars. Watching character developments as the novel unfolded was extremely fascinating, and I found myself understanding and relating to almost every single character in one way or another - even the bad ones! An excellent start to what I hope will be a substantial crime thriller series!

REVIEW || Sweet Tooth: Volumes One and Two

I read these at my local library, taking roughly half an hour for them both. These were my first ever graphic novel reads, and I went in with high expectations. I don't know why, maybe because it's such a big craze at the moment in the BookTube community, but sadly, I was a little disappointed. I do believe though that this was down to my own personal extremely high expectations rather than anything else!

Sweet Tooth Volume One: Out of the Deep Woods

In this initial volume, we find ourselves following the story of Gus, who lives in the woods with his father. Gus' father tells him he must only stay in the woods, and never stray, as there are fires and very dangerous men on the other side of the fence. Oh, did I mention, Gus has deer ears and horns?

Before Gus was born, there was an illness epidemic that wiped out quite a high proportion of the population. Those that were left, and were lucky enough to go on to have children, did so. However, after this epidemic, every child that was born, was some sort of animal hybrid. Now, 8 or so years later, we find Gus living in the woods with his father, as his mother died giving birth to him, and there is a heavy bounty for those that manage to capture these hybrids. 

However, when Gus' father dies, he dares to brave the new world outside of the woods, where he comes across Jeppard. We first meet Jeppard as he saves Gus' life, and convinces him to go with him to a safe haven. With Gus looking up to Jeppard as a new form of father figure, what could go wrong?

*

I didn't enjoy this as much as I was expecting too. The premise sounded amazing, and I had such high hopes, what with this being the first graphic novel of mine, that I think the expectations became too much of me. The story was good, and did set us up for the rest of the series, but I felt it lacked somewhat, somewhere along the line. I'm just not too sure where. 

I did feel for Gus though. He'd had such a sheltered life and didn't know where to begin after his fathers death, thus he just jumped on the first 'kind' person he met. Which ultimately led to his downfall. Overall I gave this graphic novel 3 stars.

***

Sweet Tooth Volume Two: In Captivity

The second installment picks up where the first left off. Good old reliable Jeppard is actually a bounty hunter, and hands over Gus in exchange for a duffell bag which we later find out to be the remains of his wife.

I much preferred this installment to the first one. We get to see more of Jeppard and his backstory, which was something I felt I actually needed to know in order to continue. The revelations that follow upon discovery of the other hybrids are also quite shocking, and well, Gus is actually quite naive, which is to be expected considering his upbringing.

Overall, I gave this installment four stars out of five, and reviewed both on my goodreads too.