May 2019 Reading Wrap Up! (Featuring BOTM Month, #BorrowAThon, & Bookémon Badgethon 🌊🔥⚡)

May has been quite the busy month for reading! I've been loving getting back into the swing of reading on a more regular basis. It's been a struggle over the last few months but it's been great making it a priority again and having fun participating in the book community a bit more actively than I've been able to. I'm hopeful that this is a sign of things returning back to normal!

This month I had three different bookish type projects that I worked on. First off, I wanted to focus on reading some of my Book of the Month books, as I have quite a few that have gone unread, so all of my owned physical TBR books that I picked up this month were from my Book of the Month collection. You will be able to see which books are BOTM books below as I've marked them with a little "*".

I also participated in two readathons this month! This first was Bookémon Badgethon, a month-long readathon created by Megan from Tome Infinity, which centered around earning badges Pokémon trainer style! Each page you read and badge you earned allowed you to collect points for your team (I was obviously Team Mystic 💙). I think in the future they're planning on hosting a round where you catch different Pokémon and the type of badges you have will dictate which kinds of Pokémon you can catch, so I'm obviously SO PUMPED for that! I collected a total of 3,332 points for Team Mystic and I am so excited for when this readathon makes its return.

BOOKÉMON BADGEATHON READS

Small Fry by Lisa Brennan-Jobs

Library book (audio), 3/5

Badge earned: The Know-It-All Badge (Non-fiction)

383 pages

The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman*

Physical copy, 5/5

Badge earned: The Fantastical Badge (Fantasy)

369 pages
Challenge completed: A book with magic in it

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Library book (audio), 4/5

Badge earned: The Archival Badge (Historical Fiction)

531 pages

Dog Heaven by Cynthia Rylant

Physical copy, 5/5

Badge earned: The Pictorial Badge (Book with pictures)

40 pages

Challenge completed: A book you will read within 24 hours

The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan*

Physical copy, 4/5

Badge earned: The Diversity Badge (Main character or author who is a POC)

462 pages
Challenge completed: A bestseller from 2018

The Perfect Mother by Aimee Molloy*

Physical copy, 3/5

Badge earned: The Chiller Badge (Crime/Thriller/Mystery/Suspense)

317 pages
Challenge completed: A book that was published in your birth month

The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish
Library book (audio), 3/5
Badge earned: The Jester Badge (Humor/Comedy)
288 pages
Challenge completed: A book written by an actor

When Katie Met Cassidy by Camille Perri*

Physical copy, 3/5

Badge earned: The Rainbow Badge (LGBTQIIA+ representation)

272 pages

No Exit by Taylor Adams*

Physical copy, 5/5

Badge earned: The Panic! Badge (Horror)

336 pages

And then, of course, I participated in Round 6 of #BorrowAThon! I honestly can't believe we've had 6 rounds of this readathon already, but here we are. Every time BorrowAThon comes around again I'm reminded of all of the reasons why I'm part of this bookish community. The folks who participate in this readathon are so kind and silly and fun and just always brings such joy into my life. If you watched my May Wrap Up vlog you know I've been struggling with my mental health lately, but the folks that I interact with each round of BorrowAThon make me feel so comforted and at ease in this community. UGH I love it so much. 💖

#BORROWATHON READS

9 Days & 9 Nights by Katie Cotugno

Library copy, 4/5

263 pages

Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson

Library book (audio), 4/5

329 pages

The Wizards of Once by Cressida Cowell

Library copy, 3/5

393 pages

By Your Side by Kasie West

Library copy, 3/5

342 pages

OTHER READS

Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty
Library book (audio), 4/5
415 pages
Challenge completed: A book set in Australia

Night Film by Marisha Pessl
Kindle eBook, 1/5
624 pages
Challenge completed: A book with a time of day in the title

TOTALS FOR MAY

Books completed: 15

Pages read: 5,380

2019 challenges completed: 7

10 Book TBR #3 books completed: 0 (7/10 total)

TOTALS FOR 2019

Books completed: 42/150

Pages read: 15,528

2019 challenges completed: 32/52

Taking the Control Back

Happy November everyone!

From Brett's game on Saturday. This scene just looked so quintessential autumn that I needed to snap a pic!
Bonus: they won their game. :)

Last month I picked out  a fun desktop wallpaper for my work computer to help me get into the Halloween spirit and I loved looking at a festive wallpaper every time I minimized my windows, so I thought I'd pick a new one for November! Like the Halloween wallpaper, I got this adorable pie wallpaper from Sarah Hearts. This was her November 2016 wallpaper freebie and I couldn't resist. I am so pumped for Thanksgiving this year - more pumped than usual - and this image just makes me so happy and excited! :D

Download from Sarah Hearts

I've been talking a lot about how my mental health has not been the best as of late, and it really took a toll on me last month. It's getting to the point where I am just SO TIRED of feeling the way I'm feeling and if something didn't change very soon, I wasn't sure if I would ever be able to pull myself out of it. So, at the end of October, I sat down with my bullet journal and wrote out a specific plan of action to take back control of my mental and physical well being. I'm not going to share with you what I wrote as I would like to keep that close to my heart, but I will let you know that I've taken up fitness planning and getting back into my #plannergirl groove!

I'm using my Kate Spade Wellesley as my fitness planner and in there I'm keeping a food log and exercise log. I've had the Kate Spade Wellesley for literal years and have never used it, mainly because I'm not the biggest fan of the personal size ringed planners. I've always needed more space! But I thought that this would be the perfect size to take to the gym with me without it being too cumbersome. I'm so glad I'm finally using this beautiful planner more regularly! I've already been learning so much about my habits and identifying what I need to change, especially when it comes to my diet. #sugarfiend

I've also been shamelessly decorating my bullet journal and my KS with stickers, cute clips, and washi, just like I did once I first got interested in glam planning. It makes me so happy to look at my planners which is fantastic because that's half the battle of staying on top of your lists - actually looking at them! Honestly I'm feeling so motivated to plan and work toward my goals right now and it's been a long time since I could honestly say that. :)

Autumn has been really putting on a show for us in these early days of November. I took Poppy out for a walk on Sunday afternoon and just couldn't stop taking photos. I complain about the weather getting colder non-stop, but I really can't argue that New England really is so gorgeous in the fall! It's too bad that we really only get these gloriously gold and red trees for a week or two before all the leaves fall, but they're amazing while they last!

My physical TBR for #BorrowAThon Round 5

We're in the swing of #BorrowAThon Round 5 at the moment and, as always, it is so much fun. I say it every round, and I may be biased, but the community around BorrowAThon is honestly the best. Everyone is so sweet and encouraging and funny - I'm always so happy whenever BorrowAThon rolls around! I can't wait for the BorrowAThon Live Show this upcoming Friday. It'll be at 6PM EST on my channel - feel free to join us, even if you're not participating! :)

Lupita fell asleep on my hand on the couch yesterday morning. Was seriously considering calling out of work as to not to disturb the cuteness. XD

I voted yesterday in the midterms. If you're an eligible voter, I hope you did too! I was really excited to vote, but I was REALLY excited about the fact that my polling place had stickers. Since becoming a resident of Massachusetts 3.5 years ago, none of my polling places I voted at have had them for any election. Of course, I wore it loud and proud all day yesterday! ;) All jokes aside, I'm so happy I live in a country where I get to participate in how it's being run. That's not something everyone in the world gets to say! If you missed this election for one reason or another, I strongly encourage you to make every effort to vote in the next. Our right to vote is not something we should take for granted!

This weekend is Richmond Marathon weekend! I'm flying down Friday morning and running on Saturday and I'M SO NERVOUS!!! I think it will be fine, but I'm honestly going into this race with no clue as to how it could potentially go. I'm sure I'm going to reach the finish line, but I just hope that the journey there isn't too excruciating! ^_^" Either way, it will be good to see my pal Erin and to test my body to cover 26.2 miles once again. I'll be updating you all next Wednesday via a race review and I am planning on vlogging so hopefully that comes together for you all as well. Wish me luck!!! <3

LINKS I LOVED THIS WEEK

Parent Trap Halloween Costumes from Carly the Prepster

A Unicorn Performing a Gymnastics Bar Routine from Geekologie

That made my day by @PopularPups on Twitter

A farm put together 31 days worth of puppy Halloween costumes from Twitter
An Inktober series completely dedicated to "Medium-Rare Vines" from Twitter

#BorrowAThon Round 5 TBR!

Today I am sharing the books I will be pulling from during the next round of BorrowAThon! Because my library system is new to me this time around, I took a different approach to building my TBR. Instead of thinking of specific books to fill each challenge, I decided to take out a stack of books that could fill multiple challenges and just kinda see how I feel during the week of the readathon. Hopefully this approach makes things a bit easier during the week!
The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin History of Wolves by EMily Fridlund The Cat King of Havana by Tom Crosshill Small Admissions by Amy Poeppel The Assistants by Camille Perri The Witch Elm by Tana French Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman
For more info on #BorrowAThon Round 5, be sure to check out the informational blog post!

#BorrowAThon Round 5 Announcements!

HAPPY BORROWATHON ROUND 5 ANNOUNCEMENT DAY!!!

I can't believe that we're on our fifth round of this readathon already! It has grown so much since it's first round 2 years ago. I say it every round, but the folks that participate in BorrowAThon are honestly the best. We have created such a positive and fun community around this readathon and I absolutely love it! Anywho, let's get to the information, shall we?

For those of you who may not have participated before, BorrowAThon is an 8-day readathon that encourages you to read BORROWED books. This means that you can borrow books from the library, a friend, a family member, a colleague, etc. As long as the books on your TBR are books that you do not own and will be returned from where you borrowed them from, you're participating in the readathon! The intention behind BorrowAThon is to remind folks that you do not to have to own books in order to be considered a reader or a part of the online bookish community. This is really a readathon for lovers of READING, regardless of whether or not you own the books that you're reading from.

BorrowAThon Round 5 will take place between Sunday, November 4th at 12:00AM in your time zone and Sunday, November 11th at 11:59PM in your time zone. We will be doing sprints every day of the week as well as a Live Show on Saturday. Keep reading for more details!

HOSTS

We have our amazing team of hosts back with us for Round 5. Honestly these ladies are what make this readathon run. BorrowAThon probably would not be able to run as consistently as it does without these amazing women helping me out! Make sure you check out their social media platforms and show them some love! <3

Alyssa at Books and Cats

Andie at It's a Reading Thing

Becky at Beck's Books

Izzy at PunkRockGirlPA

Lisa at LadyBookDragon

Megan B. at Lightening Boot

Megan R. at RogersReads

...and yours truly ;)

SPRINTS

As I said above, we will be having sprints every day during the readathon! There is a designated schedule for sprints, but keep an eye on the BorrowAThon twitter page because there may be spontaneous sprint sessions in addition to the scheduled hours below!

Sunday, November 4: 8PM-11PM, hosted by Becky

Monday, November 5: 7PM-10PM, hosted by Megan R. 

Tuesday, November 6: 7PM-10PM, hosted by Riley

Wednesday, November 7: 7PM-10PM, hosted by Alyssa

Thursday, November 8: 7PM-10PM, hosted by Izzy

Friday, November 9: 8PM-11PM, hosted by Andie

Saturday, November 10: 7PM-10PM, hosted by Megan B.

Sunday, November 11: 7PM-10PM, hosted by Lisa

LIVE SHOW

We will be having a live show on Friday, November 9th to get together and hangout as a BorrowAThon family! This live show will be hosted on my channel (youtube.com/rmfickfack) at 6PM EST and we would love to see you there!

CHALLENGES

And now for everyone's favorite part - challenges! We have 6 challenges that are 100% OPTIONAL. Challenges are usually a fun way to choose a TBR for the week, but you do not have to limit to yourself to books that would fit within these challenges. You are also allowed to double up on challenges or use a book to fulfill multiple challenges! Really the only rule to this readathon is that the books you're reading need to be borrowed.

1. A book you think you're going to love

2. A 2018 release

3. A book with 150 pages or less

4. A book with a name of an animal in the title

5. A book that you've never heard of

6. A book that features a library

Be sure you're following the BorrowAThon Twitter for the most up to date information and post your TBRs and updates using the hashtag #BorrowAThon so we can find you and interact with you! I'm so excited for November and I hope you all are as well! :D

Vlog: #BorrowAThon Round 4

I can't believe #BorrowAThon Round 4 is already over! I always have such a great time with BorrowAThon and I'm so so so proud of the community that this lil readathon has created. I honestly believe that BorrowAThon brings out some of the best people in the online reading community, and I'm proven right every round. I'm so looking forward to Round Five in November! I hope you all had a great BorrowAThon! <3

#BorrowAThon Round 4 TBR!

I'm so excited to share what I'll be reading for the fourth round of #BorrowAThon! Round 4 starts next weekend (WHAT) and will run from 12AM in your time zone on May 20th to 11:59PM in your time zone on May 27th. Make sure you check out my informational blog post for round 4 if you want to know more!

A book award winner or nominee

Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo

National Book Award Longlist 2016 (Young People's Literature)

A book with your initials on the cover

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, vol. 1: BFF by Amy Reeder

Someone else's favorite book

Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler

2016 Favorite from MollieReads

A book that everyone else has read but you

Paper Girls, vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughn

A book from your favorite genre

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

A book featuring a library

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

#BorrowAThon Round 4 Announcements!

It's the most wonderful day of the year! 

#BORROWATHON ANNOUNCEMENT DAY FOR ROUND 4!

I'm so excited that Round 4 is just around the corner! We will be hosting Round 4 from May 20th at 12AM in your time zone to May 27th at 11:59PM in your time zone. #BorrowAThon holds such a special place in my heart and it's something that makes me SO happy every time it comes around. The community is just so fantastic and I can't help but smile my face off during every round. Seriously. #BorrowAThon people are the greatest! SO without further ado, let's hop into the announcements.

HOSTS

First up, HOSTS! We have a stellar team of 7 hosts this round, 6 of which are returning and 1 who is a brand new addition to the team. I'm so thrilled to have all of these amazing people on board with me this round, and I hope they're just as excited to be back! For round four our hosts are....

Riley - @rmfickfack (me :D)

Alyssa - @_booksandcats
Andie - @andie_reads

Megan - @Lightening_Boot

Izzy - @PunkRockGirlPA

Lisa - @LadyBookDragon

Becky - @BecksnBooks

LIVE SHOW

We had such a blast doing the live shows last round that we definitely wanted to bring them back for round 4! We will only be doing one this round, but it will be so much fun and we hope to see you there. Mark your calendars for Saturday, May 26th. Timing is still being worked out, so be sure to follow the @BorrowAThon Twitter page for a time announcement as we get closer to the readathon!

SPRINTS

Of course, we will be bringing back sprints this round! We will be sprinting every day at different times, so take a look at the schedule for each day (below) so you know when we'll be sprinting. Hosts also like to hold random sprints throughout the day, so make sure your notifications on the @BorrowAThon Twitter pages are turned on so you don't miss a session!

Day 1 (MAY 20) - 7PM-10PM, Riley @rmfickfack
Day 2 (MAY 21) - 7PM-10PM, Riley @rmfickfack
Day 3 (MAY 22) - 8PM-11PM, Andie @andie_reads
Day 4 (MAY 23) - 5PM-8PM, Lisa @LadyBookDragon
Day 5 (MAY 24) - 7PM-10PM, Megan @Lightening_Boot
Day 6 (MAY 25) - 7PM-10PM, Becky @BecksnBooks
Day 7 (MAY 26) - 7PM-10PM, Alyssa @_booksandcats
Day 8 (MAY 27) - 8PM-11PM, Izzy @PunkRockGirlPA

READING CHALLENGES

Aaaaand last but not least, READING CHALLENGES! As usual, these challenges are *completely optional* and if you'd like to double or triple up on the challenges, you are definitely allowed to do so! These challenges are just for fun, so if you're not interested in utilizing the challenges to build your TBR, do not feel pressured to do so!

1. A book award nominee or winner
2. A book with your initials on the cover (title, author name, etc.)
3. Someone else's favorite book
4. A book that everyone else has read but you
5. A book from your favorite genre
6. Read a book that features a library

Keep an eye on the @BorrowAThon Twitter page for ALL of the latest information on Round 4, and make sure your tagging all of your BorrowAThon related posts with #BorrowAThon! We hope to see you joining us on May 20th! <3

(P.S. Here's my announcement video! :D)

Vlog: #BorrowAThon Round 3!

I'm so sad that #BorrowAThon round 3 has come to an end. I always have such a great time with BorrowAThon. The community around this readathon is so awesome and I think this round has been the best one yet! Major shout outs to all of the hosts that helped me out this round, as well as all of the folks that joined in and had a great time with us! Click play on the vlog above to see what I got up to last week and to hear my thoughts on all of the books that I read throughout the readathon! :)
Check out more round 3 videos on this playlist! And don't forget to follow BorrowAThon on Twitter!

#BorrowAThon Round 3 TBR!

AHHHH BORROWATHON IS SO SOON! 
I'm so excited that I've already picked out my TBR for the readathon and wanted to share it with you all! If you're looking for information on Round 3 of BorrowAThon, check out my information blog post. If you're just curious what I'm reading for the readathon, check out my above TBR video or see my list of books below! I can't wait to see what everyone else will be reading for this readathon and to get back to interacting with everyone who participates in BorrowAThon and makes it super great! :D
ROUND 3 TBR
1. Give an author a second chance Wonder Woman: Love and Murder by Jodi Picoult
2. Start a new-to-you series March: Book One by John Lewis
3. A book with 5 or more words in the title The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
4. A 2017 release Class Mom by Laurie Gelman
5. A book you found in a #LibraryHaul Bitch Planet, vol. 1 by Kelly Sue DeConnick
6. A book featuring a library The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie

#BorrowAThon Round 3 Announcements!

AHHHHH IT'S ANNOUNCEMENT DAY FOR ROUND THREE OF BORROWATHON!

If you're not familiar, BorrowAThon is an eight day readathon where the only rule is you have to read borrowed books. This could be borrowed from the library, from a friend, a family member, a partner, a coworker, a stranger, etc. As long as you don't personally own the book, you can read it for BorrowAThon! :D This round will be taking place from Sunday, November 5th at 12AM in your time zone and will be going through to Sunday, November 12th at 11:59PM in your time zone.

I'm so excited for this round of BorrowAThon! We have so many fun things planned for this round and the BorrowAThon community is always such a lovely group of people to hang out with every time a round comes along! I can't wait to be surrounded by so many amazing people in the bookish community and celebrate our love of reading! I have thrown together *all* of the information for round 3 in this post, so if you prefer to read your information, be sure to continue reading! If you'd rather see my idiot face tell you the information, skip to the bottom to watch my announcement video! :P

HOSTS!

I have an amazing team of hosts this round that I am so thrilled to be working with! They're going to be helping me make this round the best one yet and I feel so lucky to have them on my side to help bring you an awesome event! Here's who will be hosting this round:

Riley (me) - @rmfickfack

Alyssa - @booksandcats97

Andie - @andie_reads

Megan R. - @RogersReads79

Megan B. - @lightening_boot

Izzy - @punkrockgirlpa

Michael - @mrh0691

Lisa - @ladybookdragon

Kaeley - @kaeleyscruggs

SPRINTS!

We will, of course, be giving the people what they want with sprints this round! We will be having them at a consistent time every night: 9PM - 12AM EST. That way you'll know when to expect a round of sprinting each day of the readathon! A different host will be running sprints every day. If you're curious of who will be hosting which night, check out the schedule below!

Day 1 (November 5) - Riley

Day 2 (November 6) - Alyssa

Day 3 (November 7) - Andie

Day 4 (November 8) - Megan R.

Day 5 (November 9) - Megan B.

Day 7 (November 10) - Michael

Day 8 (November 12) - Lisa

CHATS/LIVE SHOWS!

Chats are my absolute favorite part of this readathon each round and this time we're going to be doing them a bit differently. Instead of hosting chats on Twitter like we have for the past two rounds, we're going to be hosting them on my channel in the form of some live shows! We will be live streaming on my channel and there will be a chat room that we will be able to interact with you in real time. I'm so excited to try this version of chats for round 3 and hopefully everyone will have a chance to join in one of our two chat times!

Live Show/Chat #1: Sunday, November 5th at 8AM EST

Live Show/Chat #2: Saturday, November 11th at 7PM EST

SOCIAL MEDIA CHALLENGE!

The lovely Kaeley will be hosting an Instagram challenge over on her blog Spoilers May Apply during round 3 of BorrowAThon! There will be more information released about this challenge during the readathon, so keep an eye out for information regarding the challenge on our Twitter page!

READING CHALLENGES!

The moment everyone has been waiting for - the round 3 reading challenges! We have 6 challenges again this round which are completely optional. You can try to accomplish as many or as few as you like, and you can even double up challenges if you'd like. If you find a book that accomplishes all 6 challenges, go for it! These are just for fun. :)

1. Give an author a second chance

2. Start a new-to-you series

3. Read a book with 5 or more words in the title

4. Read a 2017 release

5. Read a book you find in a #LibraryHaul

6. Read a book that features a library

Stay Up to Date!

All updated information for BorrowAThon will go up on our Twitter page first, so make sure you are following us at @BorrowAThon for all updated information! Also make sure you're using the hashtag #BorrowAThon to share your TBRs and readathon updates so we can find you and connect with you!

Check out my announcement video below if you'd like to see me talking about all things Round 3!