My Marvelathon TBR

“Many people long to tell a story.”

First line in The Near Witch by V. E. Schwab

I’m participating in a readathon! As soon as I saw that Lisa from Lisa does Life was hosting a month-long Marvel-based readathon, I knew I had no choice but to take part. The readathon runs throughout the whole month of June and the best part? It’s competitive! Yes, there are teams and it’s about winning. It has all the ingredients to help me read more in June.

There are five teams, each based on a Marvel hero, and I’m on Team Scarlet Witch whose team captain is Chloe @Persistent Bookworm. I will get points for the general prompts, but for being on Team Scarlet Witch I also get points for reading books that feature witches and/or heartbreak. I don’t have that many books on my TBR about witches so I’ll be reading them all in June (it’s two books), but heartbreak should be more doable although I can’t really know that before I read the books. So here is a list of the books I’ll be reading in June along with the prompts (I hope) they cover.

Witchmark (The Kingston Cycle #1) by C. L. Polk

In an original world reminiscent of Edwardian England in the shadow of a World War, cabals of noble families use their unique magical gifts to control the fates of nations, while one young man seeks only to live a life of his own.

Magic marked Miles Singer for suffering the day he was born, doomed either to be enslaved to his family’s interest or to be committed to a witches’ asylum. He went to war to escape his destiny and came home a different man, but he couldn’t leave his past behind. The war between Aeland and Laneer leaves men changed, strangers to their friends and family, but even after faking his own death and reinventing himself as a doctor at a cash-strapped veterans’ hospital, Miles can’t hide what he truly is.

When a fatally poisoned patient exposes Miles’ healing gift and his witchmark, he must put his anonymity and freedom at risk to investigate his patient’s murder. To find the truth he’ll need to rely on the family he despises, and on the kindness of the most gorgeous man he’s ever seen.

Prompts:

✅ Witches (50 points)
✅ Dysfunctional family (25 points)
✅ LGBTQ+ rep (10 points)
❓ Heartbreak (possibly 50 points)

The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys

Madrid, 1957. Under the fascist dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, Spain is hiding a dark secret. Meanwhile, tourists and foreign businessmen flood into Spain under the welcoming promise of sunshine and wine. Among them is eighteen-year-old Daniel Matheson, the son of an oil tycoon, who arrives in Madrid with his parents hoping to connect with the country of his mother’s birth through the lens of his camera. Photography–and fate–introduce him to Ana, whose family’s interweaving obstacles reveal the lingering grasp of the Spanish Civil War–as well as chilling definitions of fortune and fear. Daniel’s photographs leave him with uncomfortable questions amidst shadows of danger. He is backed into a corner of difficult decisions to protect those he loves. Lives and hearts collide, revealing an incredibly dark side to the sunny Spanish city.

Prompts:

✅ A 5-star prediction (25 points)
✅ Feature team color (red) on the cover (10 points)
❓ Heartbreak (possibly 50 points)
❓ Female protagonist (possibly 25 points)

A Conspiracy of Truths by Alexandra Rowland

In a bleak, far-northern land, a wandering storyteller is arrested on charges of witchcraft. Though Chant protests his innocence, he is condemned not only as a witch but as a spy. His only chance to save himself rests with the skills he has honed for decades – tell a good story, catch and hold their attention, or die.

But the attention he catches is that of the five elected rulers of the country, and Chant finds himself caught in a tangled, corrupt political game which began long before he ever arrived here. As he’s snatched from one Queen’s grasp to another’s, he realizes that he could either be a pawn for one of them… or a player in his own right. After all, he knows better than anyone how powerful the right story can be: Powerful enough to save a life, certainly. Perhaps even powerful enough to bring a nation to its knees.

Prompts:

✅ Witches (50 points)
✅ A book over 500 pages (10 points)
✅ LGBTQ+ rep (10 points)
❓ (If I can’t check any other prompts, I might decide that the cover is more red than brown…)

Peter Darling by Austin Chant

The Lost Boys say that Peter Pan went back to England because of Wendy Darling, but Wendy is just an old life he left behind. Neverland is his real home. So when Peter returns to it after ten years in the real world, he’s surprised to find a Neverland that no longer seems to need him.

The only person who truly missed Peter is Captain James Hook, who is delighted to have his old rival back. But when a new war ignites between the Lost Boys and Hook’s pirates, the ensuing bloodshed becomes all too real – and Peter’s rivalry with Hook starts to blur into something far more complicated, sensual, and deadly.

Prompts:

✅ Dysfunctional/found family (25 points)
✅ LGBTQ+ rep (10 points)
❓ Heartbreak (possibly 50 points)

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

The Alexandrian Society is a secret society of magical academicians, the best in the world. Their members are caretakers of lost knowledge from the greatest civilizations of antiquity. And those who earn a place among their number will secure a life of wealth, power, and prestige beyond their wildest dreams. Each decade, the world’s six most uniquely talented magicians are selected for initiation – and here are the chosen few…

– Libby Rhodes and Nicolás Ferrer de Varona: inseparable enemies, cosmologists who can control matter with their minds.
– Reina Mori: a naturalist who can speak the language of life itself.
– Parisa Kamali: a mind reader whose powers of seduction are unmatched.
– Tristan Caine: the son of a crime kingpin who can see the secrets of the universe.
– Callum Nova: an insanely rich pretty boy who could bring about the end of the world. He need only ask.

When the candidates are recruited by the mysterious Atlas Blakely, they are told they must spend one year together to qualify for initiation. During this time, they will be permitted access to the Society’s archives and judged on their contributions to arcane areas of knowledge. Five, they are told, will be initiated. One will be eliminated. If they can prove themselves to be the best, they will survive. Most of them.

Prompts:

✅ A book that intimidates you (25 points)
✅ LGBTQ+ rep (10 points)
❓ Witches (possibly 50 points)(Does “magical academicians” count as witches?)

Finally, I can get some points for reading a book picked through a poll, so now I’m counting on you guys to tell me what to read. The books you can choose from are:

• Kindred by Octavia E. Butler – A classic about time travel and race

• The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer – Two boys alone in a spaceship

• Loveless by Alice Oseman – What’s a girl to do when she’s never had a crush?

• In Deeper Waters by F. T. Lukens – The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue meets Pirates of the Caribbean

I do hope to read more than this, but a couple of these books are the first in a series, so I can also pick up a sequel or maybe get inspiration from my teammates. Have you read any of these books? Please let me know what you thought of them!