Hello, reader!

If you’ve been reading my blog for any amount of time, you’ve probably noticed a distinct lack in a pretty popular post among book bloggers: TBR posts. That’s because I am someone who is very much a mood reader. When I’m not reading books for review or for blog tours, I choose ones simply based on what sounds good to me at the moment. For that reason, I don’t tend to make monthly TBRs because it’s likely to change at the drop of a hat.

The one exception to this rule, of course, is when I participate in month-long readathons. And I just so happen to be doing so in August. The Trope-ical Readathon sounded like too much fun to pass up! It’s a competitive readathon created by Jenny @ JenJenReviews and her partner, Rob. The prompts are based off of popular bookish tropes and it runs through the entire month of August. If you’d like more information or want to register yourself, follow this link.

Now, it’s time to take a look at what I’ll be reading!

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A Team Challenge

So I mentioned that this readathon is competitive, right? What does any competition need? Teams, of course! There are five teams to choose from that are genre-based:

• Team Romance
• Team Science Fiction/Fantasy
• Team Mystery/Horror/Thriller
• Team Contemporary/Literary/Historical Fiction
• Team Non-Fiction/Poetry

Now, the idea is to choose the team that represents your favorite genre, but there are approximately eleventy billion people on Team Science Fiction/Fantasy, so I thought I’d try to even the playing field a little. That’s why I chose Team Mystery/Horror/Thriller!

Those are definitely my second favorite genres, after all. And it helps that I’m dying to read the team book!

Trope-ical Prompts

Beyond the team challenges (which are different for each team), there are 13 other prompts you can choose to read:

As you can see, each one also has an alternate prompt you can do to fulfill that challenge. I’m fairly certain you can read the other team challenges, as well, if you’re feeling incredibly ambitious. I’ve picked books for each of these challenges, including my team ones, but I’m only focusing on reading six books. Why? Because ya girl is a slow reader and I don’t want to overwhelm myself with a 15 book TBR!

My Trope-ical TBR

That being said, I’m sure you’re wondering what books I’ve chosen to read for which challenges. As I said, I chose six books to focus on and they are:

• Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: Team Mystery/Horror/Thriller team book
• One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus: Team Mystery/Horror/Thriller team challenge “Dark Secret” (Read a book where a character is hiding a dark secret)
• Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn: Team Mystery/Horror/Thriller team challenge “Disappearance” (Read a book featuring a disappearance)
• All Systems Red by Martha Wells: Common challenge “Artificial Intelligence” (Read a book that features an AI)
• A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown: Common challenge “Enemies to Lovers” (Read a book that involves enemies learning to love/like each other)
• The Faithless Hawk by Margaret Owen: Common challenge “Outbreak/Pandemic” (Read a book featuring an outbreak or a pandemic)

This is a pretty ambitious TBR for me! Especially since I keep signing up for blog tours. I made sure to pick books that aren’t too long and that I’ve been desperately wanting to read, anyways. Hopefully that will make me breeze through reading these. I’m a competitive person at heart and I don’t want to let my team down!

And What Of The Rest?

As I mentioned, I did pick books for all of the common challenges. Ya know, just in case I turn into a reading machine next month and crank through my six books with time to spare. Highly unlikely, but I like to be prepared! So here are my possible alternative/extra books for the Trope-ical Readathon:

• Absent/Dead Parent(s) Trope: Read a book where the MC’s parents are either absent throughout the book or have passed away prior to the start of the book. (Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi)
• Strange Names Trope: Read a book where a character has a weird name . (The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman)
• Forbidden Romance Trope: Read a book involving a forbidden or off-limits romance. (An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson)
• Dystopia Trope: Read a book that takes place in a dystopia. (Red Clocks by Leni Zumas)
• Blast from the Past Trope: Read a book where the MC encounters someone from their past. (Incendiary by Zoraida Córdova) 
• Mixed Media Trope: Read a book that includes letters, texts, emails, etc. (Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff) 
• Amnesia Trope: I couldn’t find a book I wanted to read with this trope, so I’m going with the alternative. Read a book that you forgot about on your TBR or bookshelf. (Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan)
• Chosen One Trope: Read a book where the MC is “The Chosen One”. (Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard)
• The New Kid in Town Trope: Read a book where the MC(s) have just moved to a new place. (The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah)
• Retelling Trope: Read a book that is a retelling. (A Blade so Black by L.L. McKinney) 

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I’m not gonna lie… the list-marker in me feels a great satisfaction in having this set TBR 😂 Will TBRs become a regular thing on my blog? Hahahahaha, nooooo! But I do feel good about this one. I’m really looking forward to participating in the Trope-ical Readathon!

Are any of you going to be participating? If so, what team are you on? And have you posted your TBR? Let me know in the comments!

And, as always, happy reading!