My PhilMyth Readathon TBR

The PhilMyth Read-a-Thon is a yearly Filipino-based readathon hosted by Gerald the Bookworm running from March 28 to April 10 that uses Filipino mythological creatures as reading prompts. This is my first time joining this readathon, and I’ve been looking for an exciting readathon for months now that will help me discover new books and of course, help me trim down my overflowing TBR shelf. I’m excited to read along with fellow Filipinos and meet new Filipino bookworms along the way! I’m just hoping that I’ll be able to manage all these books during this time period.

Check out PhilMyth Readathon’s official Facebook and Instagram pages for more announcements! I also included the official reading prompts for this year with their descriptions. For my non-Filipino readers, this picture shows just how wide and beautiful our country’s local folklore is!

Maria Makiling – read a book with a beautiful cover

 

For this prompt, I decided to pick Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco. I’ve had this book sitting on my shelf since I bought it last year, but until now, I still haven’t read it. It also helps that it fits the beautiful cover prompt because this is one heck of a gorgeous cover!

Two sisters.

One brutal murder.

A quest for vengeance that will unleash Hell itself…

And an intoxicating romance.

Emilia and her twin sister Vittoria are streghe—witches who live secretly among humans, avoiding notice and persecution. One night, Vittoria misses dinner service at the family’s renowned Sicilian restaurant. Emilia soon finds the body of her beloved twin… desecrated beyond belief. Devastated, Emilia sets out to find her sister’s killer and to seek vengeance at any cost—even if it means using dark magic that’s been long forbidden.

Then Emilia meets Wrath, one of the Wicked Princes of Hell that she has been warned against in tales since she was a child. Wrath claims to be on Emilia’s side, tasked by his master with solving the series of women’s murders on the island. But when it comes to the Wicked, nothing is as it seems…

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Sirena – read a book written in verse

I’m actually not familiar with books written in verse, since poetry is not often something I pick up. So when I checked the page’s recommended books for this prompt, I decided to go with The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevado. I’ve yet to read something from the author’s works, so I’m excited to have this one as my first introduction to her books.

A young girl in Harlem discovers slam poetry as a way to understand her mother’s religion and her own relationship to the world. Debut novel of renowned slam poet Elizabeth Acevedo.

Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking.

But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers—especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about. With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself.

So when she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she doesn’t know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out, much less speak her words out loud. But still, she can’t stop thinking about performing her poems.

Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent.

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Malakas and Maganda – Tagalog books and English books written by Filipino authors

It’s always been my personal goal to read more graphic novels this year. The entire Trese by Budjetto Tan and Kajo Baldisimo has been highly recommended to me by a dear friend, and I distinctly remember back when I was still in college there was one Literature professor who used this series as their assigned readings, and plenty of my blockmates adored this. Unfortunately, I wasn’t in that class but I did had a Lit professor who had us focus on other Asian literature selections, but it’s not too late to finally start this!

When the sun sets in the city of Manila, don’t you dare make a wrong turn and end up in that dimly-lit side of the metro, where aswang run the most-wanted kidnapping rings, where kapre are the kingpins of crime, and engkantos slip through the cracks and steal your most precious possessions.

When crime takes a turn for the weird, the police call Alexandra Trese.

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Santelmo – “Fire” on the title or cover

I actually had a hard time finding a book for this prompt that I still haven’t read yet. I had to scroll through my entire Goodreads TBR shelf until I came across this book. I have Incendiary by Zoraida Cordova on my Kindle for a long time, so I decided it was finally time to change its status from “to-read” to “read.”

 

I am Renata Convida.
I have lived a hundred stolen lives.
Now I live my own.

Renata Convida was only a child when she was kidnapped by the King’s Justice and brought to the luxurious palace of Andalucia. As a Robari, the rarest and most feared of the magical Moria, Renata’s ability to steal memories from royal enemies enabled the King’s Wrath, a siege that resulted in the deaths of thousands of her own people.

Now Renata is one of the Whispers, rebel spies working against the crown and helping the remaining Moria escape the kingdom bent on their destruction. The Whispers may have rescued Renata from the palace years ago, but she cannot escape their mistrust and hatred–or the overpowering memories of the hundreds of souls she turned “hollow” during her time in the palace.

When Dez, the commander of her unit, is taken captive by the notorious Sangrado Prince, Renata will do anything to save the boy whose love makes her place among the Whispers bearable. But a disastrous rescue attempt means Renata must return to the palace under cover and complete Dez’s top secret mission. Can Renata convince her former captors that she remains loyal, even as she burns for vengeance against the brutal, enigmatic prince? Her life and the fate of the Moria depend on it.

But returning to the palace stirs childhood memories long locked away. As Renata grows more deeply embedded in the politics of the royal court, she uncovers a secret in her past that could change the entire fate of the kingdom–and end the war that has cost her everything. 

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Black Lady – Read a book with a black cover written by a woman of color

I received a copy of Forest of Souls by Lori M. Lee as a gift from my dearest friend last year, and as usual, until now, I still haven’t read it yet. Hopefully I’ll be able to read this finally during this readathon and tell my friend I’ve finally managed to read something from the box of books he gave me lol.

Sirscha Ashwyn comes from nothing, but she’s intent on becoming something. After years of training to become the queen’s next royal spy, her plans are derailed when shamans attack and kill her best friend Saengo.

And then Sirscha, somehow, restores Saengo to life.

Unveiled as the first soulguide in living memory, Sirscha is summoned to the domain of the Spider King. For centuries, he has used his influence over the Dead Wood—an ancient forest possessed by souls—to enforce peace between the kingdoms. Now, with the trees growing wild and untamed, only a soulguide can restrain them. As war looms, Sirscha must master her newly awakened abilities before the trees shatter the brittle peace, or worse, claim Saengo, the friend she would die for.

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Duwende – Read a Mass Market Paperback

I have a ton of mass market paperbacks on my tbr shelf, so it was a hard time choosing which one to pick for this prompt. I wanted to read a standalone, but I only had a few options since majority of the MMPBs I currently have are part of a series. I decided to pick up Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, since it’s both a standalone and my best friend has been practically begging me to finally read this after many years because this is one of her most favorite Gaiman selections.

Under the streets of London there’s a place most people could never even dream of. A city of monsters and saints, murderers and angels, knights in armour and pale girls in black velvet. This is the city of the people who have fallen between the cracks.

Richard Mayhew, a young businessman, is going to find out more than enough about this other London. A single act of kindness catapults him out of his workday existence and into a world that is at once eerily familiar and utterly bizarre. And a strange destiny awaits him down here, beneath his native city: Neverwhere. 

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Manananggal – a book with a dual POV or two timelines

Act your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert is something I’ve been looking forward to read after reading the first two books and absolutely loving Take a Hint, Dani Brown. It helps that this book perfectly matches the dual POV requirements of this prompt. I’m excited to read this one, and listen to its audiobook! I listened to the audiobooks of the first wo books and enjoyed the experience, hence I want to continue on with that experience.

 

Eve Brown is a certified hot mess. No matter how hard she strives to do right, her life always goes horribly wrong—so she’s given up trying. But when her personal brand of chaos ruins an expensive wedding (someone had to liberate those poor doves), her parents draw the line. It’s time for Eve to grow up and prove herself—even though she’s not entirely sure how…

Jacob Wayne is in control. Always. The bed and breakfast owner’s on a mission to dominate the hospitality industry—and he expects nothing less than perfection. So when a purple-haired tornado of a woman turns up out of the blue to interview for his open chef position, he tells her the brutal truth: not a chance in hell. Then she hits him with her car—supposedly by accident. Yeah, right.

Now his arm is broken, his B&B is understaffed, and the dangerously unpredictable Eve is fluttering around, trying to help. Before long, she’s infiltrated his work, his kitchen—and his spare bedroom. Jacob hates everything about it. Or rather, he should. Sunny, chaotic Eve is his natural-born nemesis, but the longer these two enemies spend in close quarters, the more their animosity turns into something else. Like Eve, the heat between them is impossible to ignore—and it’s melting Jacob’s frosty exterior.

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Have you read any of these titles? Let me know your thoughts!