Category Archives: Challenges

#ReadForMaui: A Read for Maui Read-A-thon

Read for Maui Read-a-thon on Storygraph

Please read entire information below prior to signing up:

TikTok has created miracles for many. Booktok alone has encouraged people to read, created a space to promote indie authors, and aided diverse communities in times of need (See #TransRightsReadAThon in the news). Booktok is a space that brings together many readers of different backgrounds (at times).

If you have seen the news lately, you might have seen apocalyptic wildfires scorching various districts of Maui. Ancestral lands, royal history, Hawaiian artifacts, families, businesses, and priceless ecosystems have been impacted by the wildfires. Many people have been displaced from their homes, many separated from their families—as well as those for whom their whereabouts are as yet unknown. Even though 80% of the wildfire in Lahaina is contained, the aftermath of the fires has and will continue to devastate the island.

Our goal is to use our booktok platforms and/or online presence to garner support, solidarity, awareness, and raise monetary donations to help the people who have been affected by one of the largest natural disasters Maui has seen in recent history.

The Maui Relief Effort Read-A-Thon will start August 14th-28th (participants can join at any time during the timeframe). We will be encouraging readers to donate to trusted local organizations recommended to us by people on the ground, on Maui, as well as those from Hawaii.

Please note – We realize the Read-A-Thon is super soon. This is because many cannot wait for help. Government aid often takes days, and certain criteria have to be met in order to receive assistance. Many had to flee quickly to survive with their lives. However, not everyone carries vital paperwork on their person. Other losses like that of key documents, government identification, insurance, registration, etc, are not to be overlooked. We are doing our best to heed the suggestions and ideas of Maui people and aid them whenever and wherever possible.

If you want to join or participate in the Maui Relief Effort Read-a-Thon, please read our guidelines and fill out our Google form:

Guidelines

Before August 14-

Circulate graphics for Maui Relief Effort Read-a-Thon by liking, commenting, sharing, reposting, posting, etc.
Announce your intentions to participate in the readathon by using our hashtag #ReadForMaui on whichever online platform of your choice.
How you want to set up the donations is completely up to you! We just ask that you research and confirm the organization of your choosing will DIRECTLY aid Maui. We will have a list of suggested organizations and individual fundraisers from which you are welcome to choose.
PLEASE BE CAUTIOUS of SCAMS. We are endeavoring to help Maui directly and will do our best to do so, but we are not infallible. Do your own vetting at all times.
It is important to note that there are many ways to help! Your support efforts may land across someone’s FYP or feed that can help financially. Honestly, just showing that we care and hear Maui’s need for help may just make someone’s day.
Do you want to support Hawaiʻi authors in general? We have lists available! Hawaiian authors

August 14th-28th

Content is key, baby!
Feel free to post resources, uplift Hawaiian content creators, book reviews, etc!
The read-a-thon is NOT ABOUT US. It is about HELPING MAUI.
If you are unsure if your content is insensitive to the situation, it may be best to ask someone how to improve or skip the idea for now.
Utilize relevant hashtags to boost content, such as #ReadingForMaui.
Keep followers updated on fundraising efforts (only if you are comfortable sharing). Anything helps! Whether it be $1 or $50! How you want to structure your Read-A-Thon is up to you! (Pledging by chapters, word count, or number of books).

DONATING PROCESS:

We highly suggest that if you and your followers donate to an org/family of your choice, that receipts are submitted to our email queercollective.booktok@gmail.com!
Please omit any personal information(card number or bank numbers). We just want to see the org/family you’re choosing and how much was donated!
At the end, if you opt to share your email in the form, we will let our participants know how much was raised for Maui orgs/families across the board to share with followers????????!
Post Readathon
We would love to see your conclusion videos/posts to see how you felt during the read-a-thon and a wrap-up of all the books you read (favorites, if any new auto-buy authors, books that brought in new information and perspective, etc.)
Read diversely all year round and encourage followers to do the same.
Remember that even though news outlets may find new stories and various online platforms/niches, attention spans may be long gone, Maui will still continue to hurt. Please keep your heart open to additional fundraising efforts in the future <3

Lastly, dear participant,

Thank you for all that you are able to do. We love you for it. And we love Maui! #ReadForMaui #MauiStrong #MauiReadAThon #AidForMaui

If you have any questions, concerns, or any items/suggestions you want addressed, please contact us at queercollective.booktok@gmail.com!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

Huge thank you to the Queer Collective on Geneva, all in Maui Relief Effort – queer collective group chat on WhatsApp, @simbooktokbadly on TT for paving the way for Read-A-Thons on BookTok, @kahaulaauthor on TT for reading over our mission statement/guidelines providing us with feedback and suggestions relating to cultural sensitivity, @prblyreadingrn on TT & IG for sharing Maui Resources while on the ground, and to the countless other bookish folks who made this effort a reality.

Books I purchase from the above list

Odd Blood, by Azalea Crowley
Green Eyed Wolf, by Kahaula
The Mea Lupus series, by Kahaula
Wings Once Cursed & Bound, by Piper J. Drake
Weird Fishes, by Rae Mariz

Edit: I also happened to come across this that I thought I’d share:

“Romancelandia is raising money for the Maui Wildfires.
Check out the 400 great offerings from and for the romance community. ”

It looks like there are some awesome books/swag up for auction.

Zero Reviews Challenge.

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I have a new challenge for myself, and this one is a little dangerous. Dangerous in the sense that there is a large potential to be unenjoyable. As such, I’m setting it as a long-term challenge. I don’t have a lot of reading time right now (because of university). So, I’m reluctant to donate any of it to read that I won’t enjoy. Despite that, I still want to try this. (You never know, I might love each of these books, after all.)

What is this? Reading the books on my Goodreads shelves with zero reviews. I was inspired to check this by someone I saw over on Tiktok (that I can’t seem to find again, so I can’t give credit to). But they said that sometimes when they have trouble deciding what to read, they order their books by review numbers and read the book with the fewest. This way, they can give a small-time or new author some attention.

I liked the idea and was somewhat surprised by how many books I have with no reviews. Then I thought about it a little more and was no longer surprised. This is for the same reason that this challenge has the potential to be either a lot of fun or none at all.

You see, I collect signed books. And one of my absolute favorite ways to find them is at charity shops. I always feel like I’m rescuing a book when I buy one from Goodwill or Savers. And sometimes I buy them because they are signed, not because they look good. (Though I try to fight my impulses on this habit.) The problem is that a lot of times, they are actually quite old—from back when self-publishing was still considered vanity publishing, and editing was often iffier than it is today.

Obviously, this isn’t the case for all of them. I am a magpie when it comes to collecting books. They come from everywhere. But the same kind of gotta-collect-them-all mindset accounts for a lot of them. So, while I love owning them, reading them is a real crap shoot. Some have been great, others every bad vanity press stereotype you can imagine. But I alway want to give them a try.

In terms challenge of logistics, I’m going by Goodreads review numbers. So, some of these might have Amazon or other reviews (though I doubt it). I’m not going to take the time to look. Similarly, I suspect some might be re-publications of older books that, if I looked hard enough, I might find history for. But, again, I’m not going to do that work. If it has no reviews on Goodreads and I own it, It qualifies for the challenge.

I’m not going to count anything that is brand new and can, therefore, be expected to garner reviews in the near future. I’m really going to focus on anything older than a year with no current reviews. And I’ll make decisions on books that are later books in a series on a book-by-book basis. The same will go for some of the odd non-fiction (don’t judge).

A lot of these are physical books that have befallen the all too common fate of books in my house. They got put on a shelf, which puts them out of sight and, therefore, out of mind. So, clearing some shelf space is a nice little bonus to the challenge too. But I’ll warn you now, being slotted in, spine out is a blessing for some of these books. There are some bad covers in the lot!

The goal is to list them below, and as I read them (no doubt slowly), I’ll come back and link to the reviews. Wish me luck. I very well might need it.

The Coming of the Light & Piercing the Darkness, by J.W. Baccaro
The Clubhouse, by Frederic W. Baue
The Bones Dance the Foxtrot, by Donan Berg
Good as You, by B.A. Braxton
Feast of Darkness, Part II, by Christian A. Brown
The Queer Magician in Europe, by Brand Doubell
Paracord Knife Handle Wraps, by Jan Dox
Unwilling Bride, by M.J. Drakkon
Lost Faith, by Maia Dylan
Unmarked Trails, by Jane Flink
Cursed, by Athena Floras
Dust of a Moth’s Wing, by R. Ramey Guerrero
Star Crossed, by Eden Hudson
By Light of Phoenix, by Shade Jalo
Tom and Me, by Robert Lowe
Ankle to the Soul, by Shelly McDuffie
To Save My Father’s Soul, by Michael William Molden
The Wisdom Seeker, by Amy Peterson
Corporeal, by Danielle Powers
The Companions, by Michael Rader
Dragon of the Hesperides, by Dean Reavey
Gloaming, by Addison Taylor Rich
Sex, Intimacy, Love, and Romance in Elderly and Alzheimer’s Patients, by Sandy Sanbar & Judy Rector
For the People I Love and Can’t Forget, by Maria Szapszewicz
Gotta Be Down!, by Booker T.
Blood Revenge, by Robert F. Thompson
To Ocean’s End, by S.M. Welles
Reckless Dreams, by J.R. White
Defiled, by Elskidor Xell

So, there you have it. Those are the 29 books I own that Goodreads says have no reviews, the oldest being Tom and Me from 2016. (How can it have no reviews?) I’m fairly sure at least two of the authors have passed, one of which was a local-to-me author. Several are parts of series, the rest of the series’ books have few reviews too. And, honestly, none of them light me on fire with excitement. But that’s part of what makes this a challenge.

As always, you’re welcome to join in. Let me know how it goes.

2022 Winter Reading Challenge

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It’s that time of year again, time to set out my yearly Winter Reading Challenge. OK, it might be a stretch to call it yearly. I did a big one last year and a small one in 2017. But I’m aiming to make it yearly. How about that?

Here’s a little history/housekeeping first. In those past posts, I’ve called this my Christmas Reading Challenge. Then, at some point last year, I had an ah-ha moment and realized that was problematic. It excludes all the other holidays occurring at around the same time.

For me, Christmas is Santa and elves and shiny bows. I simply wasn’t thinking nativity scenes versus yule logs or menorahs. But once I realized even my secular use of the word Christmas was excluding other people’s celebration of the season, I swapped over to Holiday Reading Challenge (trying to be more inclusive). But that left me with consistency issues, as I’d said Christmas for the first half of the challenge, which annoyed me.

So, this year, I’m avoiding the issue altogether and going with Winter Reading Challenge. This has a second bonus benefit, too. I read a ton of holiday books and stories last year (44)! Which is great since the whole point of a holiday challenge is to clear holiday-themed books off my TBR. I tend to pick them up throughout the year but find that I almost never want to read a holiday book in, say, June. So, it’s read them this time of year or not at all. And I enjoyed the heck out of it overall.

But, honestly, I also got really tired of holiday-themed books toward the end. This is partly just too much of a good thing. But it was also a symptom of the fact that a lot of the holiday-themed books I had on my shelves were/are contemporary romances, and I simply haven’t been craving contemporary romances lately.

So, the secondary bonus of making this a Winter Reading Challenge instead of a Holiday Reading Challenge is that I got to pick out books that give me Winter Vibes in general. That gives me a lot more books to choose from and, I hope, will avoid the holiday theme burn-out. There are some cons to this, though.

I own a lot of wintry books. So, the challenge pool is huge.
Clearing Winter books off the TBR isn’t accomplishing quite the same thing as clearing holiday-themed books off it.
There is a much bigger chance of accidentally reading books as part of the challenge that turns out not to actually meet the qualification of the challenge.

This last one deserves a moment of consideration. I had to sit and think about what to do with such books. The manner in which I chose the books for this challenge was by going through my Goodreads shelves—only books I already own qualify—and picking out anything that gave me a wintry vibe, be it from the title, plot, or cover. I’m aware that there will be cases in which some element I took as snow-like (for example) might actually be stars or rain on closer examination, and the book might not be wintry at all. So, I thought on it…and decided that I get to make the rules, and they count anyway (though having an author named Winter does not). Giving me wintry vibes is pretty loosy-goosy, but I’m running with it.

As a result, my challenge reading pool currently has 12 short stories (anything under 100 pages) and 165 Wintry books (couple of those are compilations). Obviously, I’ll only read a fraction of these. Even starting as early as I am this year, with my current school schedule, I’m aiming for all the short stories (some of which are in series that require me to read books before reaching them) and 20 books from the challenge list; giving precedence to anything left over from last year’s challenge and physical books. (I need the shelf space!) Plus, some of these have been on my TBR for a long time. So, I’ll give a thought or two to age.

And yes, I do realize that it’s ridiculous to pick out 165 books in order to choose 20 from that list. But it’s my challenge and makes me happy. So, just roll with it.

Okay, that was a lot of words to explain a simple idea. Let’s get to the actual books, shall we? It should be noted that (in most cases) if the wintry book was later in a series, I only added it to the list, not the preceding books. And if a whole series seemed wintry, I only added the first book in the series to the list (even if I might end up reading more than that first one).

Here are the short stories.

Miss January—> Review
Paddy’s Power —> Review
Careened
Ozoni and Onsens
Illicit Activity
Counting Fence Posts
A Trial of Ice Blood
His Curious Mate —> Review
Deck the Demons
One Charmed Evening
The Greatest Gift
Family

Some of those are left over from last year. I pulled them from the running because they were 3rd or 4th in series. It’s my goal to read them this year. But we’ll see what actually happens.

Now for the bulk of the challenge, the full-length books. Last year I broke them up by length. I didn’t this year. I’ve simply ordered them by author. But I’ve clustered them just a little bit, to avoid a wall of text. (And let’s be honest, I’ll still probably read the shorter books first. Just to trick myself into feeling like I accomplished more if nothing else.)

Here we go:

Gingerbread Mistletoe
Mountains Wanted
Only Gold
Blue Skies
Winter Rising
The Last Sky
Lady at Last
The Rising Tide
The Perfect Place
A Wedding in Twinkle Falls
Hint of Danger
Stealing the Wind
A Dance of Water and Air
Cursed: Broken
Intrigued
Cold Attraction
Decadence
Black Briar
Carried Away
Bring Me Edelweiss
Mistletoe in the Marigny
Impact Winter
Quest of the Dreamwalker
Christmas Spirit
Training Season
Will and Patrick Do the Holidays
Mr. Naughty List
Valor
The Dashing Widow
Blood Bound
League of Vampires
The Cold Beneath
The Ducal Detective
Mating the Omega
A Taste of Seduction
Star Found Enchanted
Magic & Murder
Witching for Grace
Cedardale
The Cardinal Gate
Mystic Invisible
Witch Myth: Wildfire —> Review
The Alien Bride Lottery —> Review
Destiny Awaits
The Storm and the Darkness
Caleo
Mischief & Mistletoe
Shadow & Poison
Hara’s Legacy
Frost
Mistress of the Wind
Between Shades of Gray
Trapped
Cold Grey
The Coventry Carol
The Winter Duchess
Cherishing the Goddess
Once Upon a Midwinter’s Kiss
Dragon Dilemma
Quantum Cannibals
The Last Winter of Lonely
Cold Magic
Long Winter
Believed
Rule of Claw
Night In His Eyes —> Review
His Christmas Bride
Demon Slave
Winter Knights
Living In Ether
Song at Dawn

Murder Wears Mittens
Three Dog Night
Whiteout
Bits of the Past
Saving Eira
Chains of Frost
Spark of Lightning
The Skin
Wynter
Jonathan’s Hope
The Fallen Angels of Karnataka
Unbonded
Unwrapping Ainsley
Cabin Love
The Compeer
Winter Blom
Naughty & Nice
Once Upon an Academy
The Gentleman Devil
Handsome and the Yeti
Wolves and Daggers
The Fallen Snow
It’s You
Other Side of the Stars
The Unseelie Prince —> Review
Fallen Lady
Passing Strange
Lucky in Loveland
Withered + Seer
Shinigami
Kodiak’s Claim
Academia of the Beast
Fallen Empire
Lullaby
Taming Teddy
The Raven’s Flight

Academy of Magical Creatures
Winter’s Edge
A Beautiful World
London Holiday
Iron
Moroda
Pure & Sinful
Once Upon a Forbidden Desire
Devil’s Backbone
Tuyo
Cold Feet
Winter’s Heat
Murder in an Irish Churchyard
The Alps
Curse of the Wolf King
Snow Kissed
Black River Pack
Snowbirds of Prey
Snow
Minerva
The Power of Three —> Review
The Longing of Lone Wolves
Falling for a Rake
The Storm Glass
Princess of Lost Memories
Fae’s Prisoner
Darkling
Winter’s Fury
Ice Cold Death
The Tarot Witches
Winter’s Blood
The Distance Between
Parker
Coldheart
A Case For Christmas
Cold From the North

Cecilia
Spirits of Falajen
Alexi
Drunk, Blind, Stupid Cupid
What the Stubborn Viscount Desires
A Moment After Dark
Chasing the Duke
Shrewd Angel
The Dragon Warrior and the Princess
Awakened
Dust of Snow
Snowblind
A Very Shifter Holiday Boxed Set
Angeli
Skinner Luce
Boy Toys
Dragon Song
Eight Kinky Nights
Santa’s Wolves
Daughters of the Storm
From Out in the Cold
Blood Hunter
Seeking Snow Falls —> Review
To Catch a Fae

Soooo, that’s a lot, right? There are several genres in there, plus books of various lengths, ebooks, audiobooks, and physical books—so, lots of variety. And that’s assuming I don’t come across one or two I missed on my Goodreads shelves or pick up a new one (which I’ve promised myself I won’t do and, even if I do, it won’t count, but…we’ll see if I can stick to that).

As I said, I expect I’ll only accomplish a fraction of these. But this gargantuan list is what I’ve set aside to choose from. I think I’ll come back and link reviews as I post them. To make them easier to find. Anyhow, there you have it, my 2022 Winter Reading Challenge.

What do you think? Too much? Do you do reading challenges?

See Sadie Read

Sci-fi, fantasy, UF/PNR & LGBT+

Category Archives: Challenges

#ReadForMaui: A Read for Maui Read-A-thon

Read for Maui Read-a-thon on Storygraph

Zero Reviews Challenge.

2022 Winter Reading Challenge