First Blog Post + October TBR

Hello and welcome to my blog – Kay’s Book Nook!

I’m a 20-something reader from the UK, who predominantly reads fantasy, sci-fi, and manga. I’m a huge nerd – I play D&D, devour superhero movies and anime on a regular basis, and love to settle down in the evenings (when I’m not reading, obviously) with a video game (currently playing Pokemon Shield and Skyward Sword).

I decided to try my hand at blogging after discovering there was a large community of book bloggers on twitter. I’ve always wanted to be part of the wider online book community but I’ve not been entirely comfortable having such a huge online presence (hence why you’ll never see my face), but figured that having a book blog could be a great way to connect with other readers and discover new book content that I might not have known about, while getting to remain as anonymous as I can. Reading has always been a way for me to relax and unwind ever since I was in a kid, so I’m excited to be able to share my hobby with other book lovers.

October TBR

I don’t usually set monthly TBR’s as I’m a mood reader but I decided to take part in Spoopathon, a readathon hosted by Spoopyhol over on YouTube. It’s a month long readathon taking place in October where you are trapped in a haunted house and have to read books based on certain prompts in order to progress through the house, making sure to gain enough points to open the doors (each prompt fulfilled earns 25 points) and fight any ghosts along the way. I thought this sounded like a really cool idea for a readathon and there is such a wide variety of prompts and different pathways to travel through the haunted house that I could have a bit of flexibility when it came to what books I read. I’ve decided to join the Ghostbusters team.

However, I have settled on the path I want to take, and the books I hope to read. These are all books high on my priority list and ones I’m currently really in the mood for (let’s hope I haven’t just jinxed myself…) so I feel like getting through these might not be so difficult. The books I’m planning on reading, and the prompts I’ve chosen for them, are:

• Jade War by Fonda Lee for the ‘gifted to you’ prompt. I was lucky enough to receive my copy of Jade War from a friend for my most recent birthday. It’s a book I’ve been desperate to read since I read and loved Jade City. Jade City was an easy 5 star read so I’m predicting Jade War will be too! Reading this book will earn me 25 points.
• She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan for the ‘autumnal cover’ prompt. Nothing screams autumn to me more than the colours of this book, full of reds, oranges, and yellows. It reminds me of the changing colours of the leaves. This was one of my most anticipated releases of 2021 and I’m extremely excited to finally be reading it. This book also counts towards a bonus prompt, which is to read a book with LGBTQIA+ rep/author, which this book has both. Bonus prompts are worth 50 points. All together this book will earn me 75 points.
• The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu for the ‘500+ pages’ prompt. This is a book I discovered recently after seeing the gorgeous editions that are being released by The Broken Binding. I don’t know too much about this book but I saw it on Kindle Unlimited and decided to give it a go. It’s over 600 pages so definitely fits for this prompt. Reading this book will earn me 25 points.
• The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson for the ‘diverse rep’ prompt. This is a book written by a biracial, female author (they use she/her pronouns on publisher sites but please correct me if I’m wrong) which counts towards the diverse rep. The cover of this book also features my team colours (purple) and so this bonus prompt earns me 50 points. So, in total, I will earn 75 points.
• My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix for the ‘read after dark’ prompt. This book has been on my shelf for a long, long, long time. What perfect month to read this book in other than October? It’s also a very perfect book for this prompt! As it’s a horror, this counts towards the ‘spooky book’ bonus prompt, which earns me an additional 75 points on top of the 100 I earn from escaping the haunted house!

I’m very excited to both participate in this readathon and earn the Ghostbuster team points, but even more excited to start my book blogging journey!

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