Sunday, December 18, 2016

Monday Missions ~ 2016 Winter Cramathon!



I'm doing another readathon! 

This year's winter Cramathon takes place between December 16th - 23th. 

I'm starting a couple days late, unfortunately, but I have made headway in one of my picks, and the graphic novels will make quick reads, so that should make up for it a bit.

THE ANNOUNCEMENT VIDEO:



THE CHALLENGES:

1. Read a book under 200 pages
2. Read a book in 24 hours
3. Read a book set in a different country
4. Read a "backburner"... a book you've been putting off
5. Read a book with pictures
6. Read a graphic novel
7. Read 7 books

SOCIAL MEDIA:

Follow the Cramathon Twitter:
@CramAThon

Follow MY Twitter:
@serenshadow

Follow my Instagram:
@serenshaow

I'll post updates on Twitter and Instagram!

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If you plan to participate, comment with your TBR! :) 

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MY TBR:

1. Blood+ Vol 1
Set several decades after the events in the popular Blood: The Last Vampire anime film, an amnesiac Saya Otonashi lives as a seemingly normal high school student with her adoptive family in Okinawa. Horrible nightmares are the only hints at the violent life she once led, but her past is about to catch up with her and awaken the merciless warrior within. Chiropterans -- powerful shape-changing creatures who need and crave blood -- threaten humanity once more, and a mysterious organization called the Red Shield needs Saya's deadly sword skills and mysterious powers to aid in the fight against these beasts. As her submerged abilities begin to reawaken and as she seeks to regain her memories, Chiropteran warriors are guided by a mysterious leader to threaten Saya and her loved ones. Asuka Katsura's manga series successfully expands upon the original Production I.G./Aniplex feature, delivering moments of jarring violence and thrilling action in a tale that spans several centuries. 

GOODREADS: 

2. United As One by Pittacus Lore

The seventh and final book in the #1 New York Times bestselling I Am Number Four series! With United as One, this action-packed series comes to a surprising, breathtaking, and utterly satisfying conclusion. The Garde didn’t start this war, but they’ll do whatever it takes to end it once and for all. . . .

The Mogadorians have invaded Earth. Their warships loom over our most populated cities, and no country will risk taking them head on. The Garde are all that stand in the way, but they’ll need an army of their own to win this fight.

They’ve teamed up with the US military, but it might not be enough. The Garde need reinforcements, and they’ve found them in the most unexpected place. Teenagers from across the globe, like John Smith’s best friend, Sam, have developed abilities. So John and the others must get to them before the Mogs, because if they don’t their enemies will use these gifted teens for their own sinister plan.

But after all the Mogadorians have taken from John—his home, his family, his friends, and the person he loves most—he might not want to put any more lives in danger. He’s got nothing left to lose, and he’s just discovered he has been given an incredible new Legacy. Now he can turn himself into the ultimate weapon. So will he risk his life to save the world, or will he realize that power in numbers will save us all?

GOODREADS: 

3. A Mortal Song by Megan Crewe
Sora's life was full of magic--until she discovered it was all a lie.

Heir to Mt. Fuji's spirit kingdom, Sora yearns to finally take on the sacred kami duties. But just as she confronts her parents to make a plea, a ghostly army invades the mountain. Barely escaping with her life, Sora follows her mother's last instructions to a heart-wrenching discovery: she is a human changeling, raised as a decoy while her parents' true daughter remained safe but unaware in modern-day Tokyo. Her powers were only borrowed, never her own. Now, with the world's natural cycles falling into chaos and the ghosts plotting an even more deadly assault, it falls on her to train the unprepared kami princess.

As Sora struggles with her emerging human weaknesses and the draw of an unanticipated ally with secrets of his own, she vows to keep fighting for her loved ones and the world they once protected. But for one mortal girl to make a difference in this desperate war between the spirits, she may have to give up the only home she's ever known.

GOODREADS: 

4. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

Despite constant efforts to declutter your home, do papers still accumulate like snowdrifts and clothes pile up like a tangled mess of noodles?
Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo takes tidying to a whole new level, promising that if you properly simplify and organize your home once, you'll never have to do it again. Most methods advocate a room-by-room or little-by-little approach, which doom you to pick away at your piles of stuff forever. The KonMari Method, with its revolutionary category-by-category system, leads to lasting results. In fact, none of Kondo's clients have lapsed (and she still has a three-month waiting list).

With detailed guidance for determining which items in your house "spark joy" (and which don't), this international best seller featuring Tokyo's newest lifestyle phenomenon will help you clear your clutter and enjoy the unique magic of a tidy home - and the calm, motivated mindset it can inspire.

GOODREADS: 

5. Home for Peculiar Children by Ranson Riggs
A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of curious photographs.

A horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.

GOODREADS: 

6. Blood+ Vol 2

Saya seems, from all appearances, to be an ordinary teenage girl suffering from amnesia. Living with a foster family just outside an American military base in Okinawa, Japan, she soon discovers that she is anything but normal. She learns she is an apparently immortal warrior, who has ties dating to ancient Egyptian times if not earlier. For centuries she has been locked in a battle against a race of vampiric creatures known as Chiropterans, monsters that seem intent on destroying all life on Earth. In an epic tale that crisscrosses the globe from the streets of Japan to Vietnam, Russia, France, England, and ultimately North Carolina and New York City, Saya battles to save the world while searching for the secret of her lost memories

GOODREADS:

7. The Geek Feminist Revolution by Kameron Hurley
A powerful collection of essays on feminism, geek culture, and a writer’s journey, from one of the most important new voices in genre.

The Geek Feminist Revolution is a collection of essays by double Hugo Award-winning essayist and science fiction and fantasy novelist Kameron Hurley.

The book collects dozens of Hurley’s essays on feminism, geek culture, and her experiences and insights as a genre writer, including “We Have Always Fought,” which won the 2014 Hugo for Best Related Work. The Geek Feminist Revolution will also feature several entirely new essays written specifically for this volume.

Unapologetically outspoken, Hurley has contributed essays to The Atlantic, Locus, Tor.com, and elsewhere on the rise of women in genre, her passion for SF/F, and the diversification of publishing.

GOODREADS:

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