Read-A-Thin May Annoucment and TBR 2023

It’s the day before my surgery, but May Readathin Announcement was posted today; if you know me, you know that I never skip a round. I’m proud to say that I have been joining since 2017 when it started. It is a month-long, and it is held in February, May, August, and November every year. The aim is to thin your current TBR. The hosts are Manda at Manda The Biblio and Donna at MomsBookCollection.

Challenges:

Reading Prompts:

Read a book you meant to read last month but didn’t get to

Goodreads Blurb:

Five years after a suspicious fire killed his ornithologist mother, a closeted Syrian American trans boy sheds his birth name and searches for a new one. He has been unable to paint since his mother’s ghost has begun to visit him each evening. As his grandmother’s sole caretaker, he spends his days cooped up in their apartment, avoiding his neighborhood masjid, his estranged sister, and even his best friend (who also happens to be his longtime crush). The only time he feels truly free is when he slips out at night to paint murals on buildings in the once-thriving Manhattan neighborhood known as Little Syria.

One night, he enters the abandoned community house and finds the tattered journal of a Syrian American artist named Laila Z, who dedicated her career to painting the birds of North America. She famously and mysteriously disappeared more than sixty years before, but her journal contains proof that both his mother and Laila Z encountered the same rare bird before their deaths. In fact, Laila Z’s past is intimately tied to his mother’s—and his grandmother’s—in ways he never could have expected. Even more surprising, Laila Z’s story reveals the histories of queer and transgender people within his own community that he never knew. Realizing that he isn’t and has never been alone, he has the courage to officially claim a new name: Nadir, an Arabic name meaning rare.

As unprecedented numbers of birds are mysteriously drawn to the New York City skies, Nadir enlists the help of his family and friends to unravel what happened to Laila Z and the rare bird his mother died trying to save. Following his mother’s ghost, he uncovers the silences kept in the name of survival by his own community, his own family, and within himself, and discovers the family that was there all along.

Read a book from your TBR

I’m pretty sure I will have books to pick from.

Read the newest addition to your TBR

Goodreads Blurb:

Erin is looking forward to Schoolies, at least she thinks she is. But things are not going to plan. Life is getting messy, and for Erin, who is autistic, that’s a big problem. She’s lost her job at Surf Zone after an incident that clearly was not her fault. Her driving test went badly even though she followed the instructions perfectly. Her boyfriend is not turning out to be the romantic type. And she’s missing her brother, Rudy, who left almost a year ago.

But now that she’s writing letters to him, some things are beginning to make just a tiny bit of sense.

Choose 5 of your oldest books and random number generate your next read

I’m pretty sure I will have books to pick from.

Read a diverse book

Goodreads Blurb:

Jason King is the worst.

Cocky. Frat boy. And the biggest bully around.

His family is richer than God and he thinks that makes him the king of Hannsett Island.

But he’s not the only player on the board…

We’ve got our Knight-in-shining-leather, Donovan. My best friend and a loner with a heart of gold.

And then there’s me…the Queen, obviously. Checkmate.

Except the chemistry between the three of us changes the rules in a BIG way.

Your move, Jason…

Truth or dare?

Read a book starting with the letter R

Amazon Blurb:

Jake Bryant’s best friend was murdered . . .
His family will be next.
Jake can’t let that happen!

Jake Bryant, a former Chicago PD detective, rushes home after his best friend is killed. Determined to find the murderer, he starts his own investigation into Tom’s death. However, the case is complicated by a motorcycle gang, drugs, and Jake’s feelings for Tom’s widow.

But Jake has bigger problems when the police set the killer free- who then decides to silence Tom’s family as well. Now Jake is faced with the ultimate dilemma. Does he trust a broken system to protect Tom’s family? Or does he seek his own brand of justice?

Read a “thin” book (under 300 pages)

Goodreads Blurb:

THE OLYMPIAN WINS HER HEART is the story of Alex Mason, a successful, overworked, financial analyst who, upon the death of her father, inherits the family ski resort. Hoping to sell her inheritance to developers and forget the pain of her past, Alex was not expecting to face those memories or her very first crush, Olympic skier, Bohdi Vonn. Alex finds her plans for a smooth sale derailed, by the cooked books of her father’s business partner and the blue eyed man responsible for the last 16 years of heartache. Alex will need to decide if she wants to close the deal with the developers or open her heart to a lifetime of love.
Bohdi Vonn was the country’s darling. Medalled Olympian, and endorsements, that provided a life of comfort. Retired from skiing, after an injury, Bohdi wants nothing more than to spend his days, running the T-Bar Pub, and rebuilding his life at Talisman Mountain. When news the resort will be sold to unscrupulous developers, Bohdi swears he will do anything to stop it. He just isn’t prepared to go to battle with the determined and beautiful Alex Mason. His best friends sister is all grown up, stunning and she still hasn’t forgiven him for her brother’s death, on the hill, years ago. Knowing he has only one chance to save the resort, Bohdi sets out on a mission to show Alex the true value of the mountain, forgiveness and his heart.

Read a book for another challenge

TBR Repeater

Read a book with Purple on the cover

Goodreads Blurb:

Lydia Eastlee has skipped a decade of her life.

When she married a much older man, Lydia took a shortcut from grad student to middle-aged matron. Do not pass go. Do not drink jug wine or buy Ikea bookshelves.

Now Lydia finds herself a 45-year-old widow. She’s got a suburban McMansion she doesn’t want, a hole in her day where her job used to be, and a bunch of married-couple friends eligible for Social Security.

Lydia wants to start over and recapture the endless possibilities life offers at age 25.

She adopts a shelter dog with issues.

Buys a charming little starter home on the verge of collapse.

And accepts a job she doesn’t know how to do.

Lydia soon learns that youth isn’t for the faint-hearted. Her dead husband is trying to control her future through the terms of his will. And her impulsive decisions may cost her some new friendships she can’t bear to lose.

Read your favorite Genre

Goodreads Blurb:

There were two secrets in Varenx House, and Alizhan was one of them.

Alizhan can’t see faces, but she can read minds. Her mysterious ability leaves her unable to touch or be touched without excruciating pain. Rescued from abandonment and raised by the wealthy and beautiful Iriyat ha-Varensi, Alizhan has grown up in isolation, using her gift to steal secrets from Iriyat’s rivals, the ruling class of Laalvur. But Iriyat keeps secrets of her own.

When Alizhan discovers that she isn’t the only one of her kind, and that a deadly plot threatens everyone like her, there’s only one person she can trust.

Ev liked having a secret. None of the other girls in the village had a thief-friend.

Evreyet Umarsad—“Ev” to her parents and her one friend—longs to be the kind of hero she reads about in books. But the rest of the world feels impossibly far away from her life on a farm outside Laalvur. Ev will never lay eyes on the underground city of Adappyr, the stars of the Nightward Coast, or the venomous medusas that glow in the dark depths of the sea.

At least on her weekly trip to the market, Ev gets to see her thief—the strange young woman who slips by her cart and playfully steals a handful of thornfruit. When the thief needs help, Ev doesn’t hesitate. Together, they uncover a conspiracy that draws them all over Laalvur and beyond.

Give an author another try

Goodreads Blurb:

Winnifred Gobaldi and Byron Visser are not best friends.

Yes, they’ve known each other for years, but they’re not even friendly. Winnie considers them more like casual, distant acquaintances who find each other barely tolerable, especially when he’s being condescending (which is all the time).

The truth is, they have nothing in common. She’s a public school science teacher with stars in her eyes, and he’s a pretentious, joyless double PhD turned world-famous bestselling fiction author. She loves sharing her passion for promulgating women in STEM careers and building community via social media, and he eschews all socialization, virtual or otherwise. She’s looking for a side hustle to help pay down a mountain of student debt, and his financial portfolio is the stuff of fiduciary wet dreams. So why are they faking a #bestfriend relationship for millions of online spectators?

When a simple case of tit-for-tat trends between nonfriends leads to a wholly unexpected kind of pretend, nothing is simple. Sometimes, it takes a public audience to reveal the truth of private feelings, and rarely—very rarely—you should believe what you see online.

Self-Care Prompts:

Choose a challenge and do most of the prompts
Relax
Participate in reading sprints
Self care day
Get some fresh air
Weekly journaling
Listen to a podcast or music
Date night with yourself or a partner
Declutter something
Do something you enjoy (this can be gaming, watching t.v. or something else)
Watch something from your childhood
Do a hobby

Instagram Challenges:

Social Media Links:

Readathin Twitter | Readathin Discord  | Readathin Templates

Amanda’s Card

Donna’s Linktree

Alex