Books

Pondathon II: A Round 2 Summary

February 22, 2022 by Mackenzie 4 Comments

A disclaimer: all of the Pondathon graphics were created by CW of The Quiet Pond and belong to her!

And a note: find my intro post about joining Pondathon II here!

Hello friends! Round 2 of the Pondathon II readathon is now over, so it’s time for a wrap up! I felt a little slumpy this round, so I didn’t read quite as much as in the first round. But I read some great books and really enjoyed them all! But before I tell you what I read, let’s see what the quests and rewards were for this round.

Round 2 Pondathon II Quests

This month the readathon rewards were baby’s breath, grass flowers, daisies, and shrubs! I really love the baby’s breath. Who am I kidding, I love them all!

We were given a side quest by Gen, where we helped him plant saplings by reading books by Black authors for Black History Month! The rewards were park benches, deck tables, and sunflowers. I LOVE SUNFLOWERS. There were also bonuses: a badge for reading 3 books by Black authors, and a secret achievement if you read a book by a Black author with one of the following themes: friendship, family, community, nature.

And we also had a companion quest given to us by Alechia Dow, the author of The Kindred. She asked us to post a photo of a food that we feel is our food soulmate, along with her book! I got hungry seeing everyone’s food pics haha.

We even had a surprise Lunar New Year event!! Since Lunar New Year fell during this round, if we submitted a book during this period we got a lucky plant for our garden! I love the idea of celebrating different holidays with special plants, and CW has more planned.

Books I Read

Okay NOW I’ll tell you the books I read for this round! I managed to read 7 books! They are:

  1. Love at First Spite by Anna E. Collins (a cute and fun adult rom-com following a woman building a “spite house” to get revenge on her ex)
  2. Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn Solomon (a cute adult rom-com featuring a Jewish protagonist and a heartwarming romance)
  3. Redemptor by Jordan Ifueko (the sequel to Raybearer and the conclusion to the duology – such an incredible world!! go read this duology if you haven’t yet)
  4. Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen (a YA fantasy that takes inspiration from The Little Mermaid and African mythology)
  5. The Bones of Ruin by Sarah Raughley (another YA fantasy, about an African tightrope walker who can’t die)
  6. Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells (the 6th novella in the Murderbot Diaries series – a good old fashioned murder mystery and very excellent as Murderbot always is)
  7. A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow (an adult fantasy retelling of Sleeping Beauty – ahhhh so damn good I need more)

Three of these are by Black authors, so I completed the bonus for the side quest! I also completed the secret achievement – which was to read a book by a Black author with one of the following themes: friendship, family, community, nature. Family, community, and friendship are all critical themes in Redemptor! From this I got a secret reward for my garden – which ended up being two cute stacks of books!

Companion Quest – Food Soulmate

For this quest, I chose boba as my food soulmate! For the following reasons:

  • it’s not for everyone, but those who love it LOVE IT
  • comes in many flavors (multifaceted personality)
  • unique!
  • makes you happy! (like I hope I do)

And here is my photo, which I took of my matcha latte boba that I made at home myself! And The Kindred, of course. (PS: My tweet for the quest is here)

Character Card and Garden Update

So since I’ve earned another badge (from the side quest) here is my updated character card. I can’t wait to full up more of the badge spaces!!

I’ve also added all my new plants and etc to my garden. I’m going to try to keep just one garden for the whole Pondathon, but it’s already looking crowded so I don’t know how well that will go hahaha. But anyway, I’ve added my rose goblin from last round’s companion quest (you can read about that in my last round up). I’ve also got my park bench, deck table, Lunar New Year plant, sooo many new flowers, and the rewards from Alechia Dow’s quest! Look at that moon planter!!! I’m in love. I’m really happy with my garden, but I’m sad because I can’t live there hahaha.

How has your reading been since I last checked in about a month ago? Are you a Pondathon participant, and if so how is your garden looking?

Related posts:

Monday Minis - February 25th
The Happy Place 5: Queer BIPOC main characters!
What Did I Read in 2020?
SPACE GAYS!!! (A Book Recommendation List)
Share: