The week has finally come to a close and RYBSAT is over. This was the first year that I participated in the read-a-thon and oh my goodness I LOVED IT. It was so much fun! There was constant support and activities happening over on Twitter which just made the whole experience ten times more enjoyable. I didn’t think that ‘reading sprints’ would actually be that helpful in the beginning, but I’ve since learnt and discovered that they are ridiculously fun and I do read faster when I’m doing one.
For those of you that may not know what RYBSAT is, it’s the Read-Your-BookShelf-A-Thon hosted by Miranda over @ BooKss101. It’s great fun and anyone can do it! You pick a point on your bookshelf and then you read all the books consecutively from that point and you read as much as you can.
I set myself a goal for this round to read three books and had a fourth one lined up just in case. You can read all about that in THIS post. I didn’t actually think I would come close to my goal but guess what guys, I READ ALL FOUR!
I’m so proud of myself, I don’t think I’ve ever read so much in my life. How exciting!! Obviously, it’s all thanks to the amazing books that I picked out and thoroughly enjoyed. So, let’s get on to the wrap-up!
The Statistics
Books read: 4
Pages read: 1,467
Book One: Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin
5/5 STARS
Genre: YA Alternate Historical Fiction
Author: Ryan Graudin
Published: November 2015
Publisher: Orion Children’s Books
Pages: 390 {paperback}
This was the first book that I read for the read-a-thon and whew! It was fantastic. The book follows Yael, a Jewish girl in hiding, after WWII. She’s hiding her true identity because this is the story of if Hitler had won the war. It’s brilliant, it’s terrifying, and the storytelling is beautiful. I highly recommend this book.
Book Two: Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes
5/5 STARS
Genre: YA Fantasy
Author: Morgan Rhodes
Published: 2012
Publisher: Penguin Group
Pages: 412 {paperback}
This was the second book that I read for the read-a-thon and I enjoyed it so much that I could not put it down. I literally read the book in an entire day. It’s compulsive reading. Falling Kingdoms has been compared a lot to the A Song of Ice and Fire series but branded as a ‘YA’ version – and I think that’s a pretty accurate description. This book was amazing and I cannot wait to get to the rest of the series. I highly recommend this book.
Book Three: The Butterfly and the Violin by Kristy Cambron
5/5 STARS
Genre: Historical Fiction, War
Author: Kristy Cambron
Published: July 2014
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Pages: 329 {paperback}
This was the third book that I read for the read-a-thon and I honestly thought this would be the sticking point; it’s historical fiction I thought it would definitely slow me down. As it turns out this was compelling reading and utterly heart-breaking. It follows the story of Adele, a Viennese Violinist (so, she’s from Vienna, Austria for those of you with bad geography), who gets put in Auschwitz after trying to help a Jewish family escape. It flicks between her point of view and Sera, an art collector, who lives in the modern day and who is trying to discover the story behind a portrait done of Adele. This is also branded as Christian fiction but I found it tastefully done and logical within the context. I recommend this book.
Book Four: After the End by Amy Plum
4.5/5 STARS
Genre: YA Dystopian
Author: Amy Plum
Published: May 2014
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 336 {paperback}
I read this book so much quicker than I thought I would. It was such a great read and so much better than what I was expecting. I’ve been forever wanting to read an Amy Plum book and now I finally have! It was a quick and easy read and so much fun. The book follows two characters, Juneau – a girl from a clan who live in a nomadic sort of way, and a Miles – a boy from the city who’s a little brat. Juneau has been told her whole life that WWIII destroyed the world and their clan consists of some of the people that survived. Except they’ve been lied to, WWIII never happened. This book was awesome and I definitely recommend it.
I will absolutely be participating in round 8 of RYBSAT as this was so much fun. I honestly did not expect in the slightest that I would get through all of these books and I’m beyond stoked that I did. TAKE THAT, ENORMOUS TBR! I wish every week could be as amazing as this has been for reading.
To conclude and celebrate my successes I did the only reasonable thing a bookworm could do, I bought myself another book as a reward. Don’t give me that look. But you’ll have to wait until my next book haul to see it!
Did you participate in RYBSAT? Let me know how you did in the comments below!
Feel free to leave a link to your wrap-up, too!
~~ Kirstie ~~
Upside-Down Books 
You had a great readathon! Congrats on getting through your entire tbr 😀 After the End sounds pretty interesting, I’m intrigued!
My wrap-up.
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Thanks! You should give it a read 🙂
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