Summerween Wrap-Up

 Hello Interwebs!

So July has been very very busy but I still managed to complete most of my two readathons. To refresh: Summerween was a horror/thriller readathon in the beginning of July celebrating Halloween vibes in the Summer time. The prompts were as follows:

1. Bake or Make a drink with your spooky read
2. Read a book in the dark
3. Read a paranormal book
4. Read a horror book
5. Read a book with Halloween colors on the cover

So I completed all of these prompts, however with my crazy month I split my month in half and did Summerween from the 1st to the 15th and then Jane Austen July from the 16th to the 31st. I read three books for Summerween as well as the other two non book prompts. 

For my bake or make a drink with your spooky read I did both. I made a batch of Apple Cinnamon scones from a Sticky Fingers mix. There are no pictures of the scones themselves because they disappeared too quickly. So here is a stock picture of the scone mix bag. 

In addition to my scones I broke out my Bones Coffee Company K-Cups and made a cup or several of their Frankenbones flavor which is chocolate hazelnut and one of my favorites. Bones Coffee Company is my favorite coffee brand and I absolutely love all their weird and wacky flavors as well as their graphics, I buy all of the t-shirts they come out with as they come out including a Frankenbones one with my "fall" clothing. 

The second prompt was by far the easiest one for me as I work night shift and therefore most of my reading is done either at night at work or in my artificially darkened bedroom before or after I sleep during the day. So that prompt was done quick and easy through the whole readalong. 

Next is the read a paranormal book prompt. Originally I had planned on reading House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski. I got a couple sections into it and I just wasn't feeling it so I didn't finish it and switched up books. I ended up reading The Chill by Scott Carson. This is about a town in upstate New York that was destroyed in the early 20th century to build a reservoir to help feed New York City's water supply. In the present day you follow the people connected around the dam: the sheriff and his son, a cop whose family has ties to the founding of the drowned town, her father, and an inspector who are all swept up into the ghost story unfolding around the dam. The Chill was decent, I gave it a 3.5 star rating. It was fine but not what I was expecting. It was an enjoyable read and definitely fulfilled the paranormal prompt with its traditional ghost story vibes. I read it from July 13th to the 17th and gave it a 3.5 star rating. 

The next prompt was to read a horror novel and for this prompt I chose The Troop by Nick Cutter. This is a horror novel about a group of boy scouts having a camp out on an island in Canada when they come across a very sick man. The man is emaciated and suffering from horrific levels of hunger. One by one the scout leader and all the scouts begin to succumb not only to the disease the man brought with him but also to the paranoia and horror of the situation. I really enjoyed this book. I thought the camping vibes were perfect for a summer horror readathon. This is a horror novel I've seen all over the place on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok and was glad to finally read it. My favorite subgenre of horror is plague/illness based horror so I was especially glad to read it. I read this book from July 2nd to 6th and gave it a 4 star rating. 

The final prompt was to read a book with Halloween colors on the cover. I chose to read The Maidens by Alex Michaelides. In my mind the colors work for Halloween because the yellow/goldish hue on the cover coupled with the black made me think of creepy full moons on Halloween. This was a thriller following Mariana who goes to her alma mater, Cambridge University, when her niece's best friend is murdered. She immediately suspects the Greek Tragedy professor, Edward Fosca, and his creepy group of followers known as the maidens. This was a pretty good thriller. I hadn't read his other book, The Silent Patient, which was really big when it first came out but now I'll definitely check that one out as well. I read this one from the 6th to the 13th and also gave it a 4 star rating. 

So that was everything I did for Summerween. I enjoyed everything I read and I was glad to have an excuse to pick up thrillers and horror novels again. There's my first wrap-up for the month of July. Next will be my summation for Jane Austen July, which also went very well. 

Happy Reading!

Richelle