Reading Challenges

YARC ~ Year of the Asian Reading Challenge 2019!

Sophie @ BlameChocolate

Happy Sunday guys! 🙂

This is a very special post today as I am thrilled to announce that I’ll be taking part in YARC – Year of the Asian Reading Challenge 2019!

YARC is co-hosted by CW @ The Quiet Pond, Lily @ Sprinkles of Dreams, Vicky @ Vicky Who Reads, and Shealea @ Shut Up Shealea! and basically encourages everyone to read more books written by Asian authors.

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It lasts the entire year and anyone can join at any time. There’ll be tons of prompts and challenges and recs every month, but if you want to know more just check out the links above and they will take you to the co-hosts’ lovely blogs.

Lily and I bonded over O.W.L.s last September, so I was really excited to see her hosting this! You go girl ❤ I see we meet again for another reading challenge 😆

There are different levels based on how many books you are planning to read. Because I’m a wuss and hate commiting, I’ll go for Level 1 for now. Level 1 is an adorable Philippine tarsier and means I’ll be reading between 1 to 10 books written by Asian authors.

badge_tarsier
How cute is this little guy??

Also, check out @YearOfTheAsian on Twitter! I’m really looking forward to the #YARC2019 Twitter chats that will take place there every two months 😀

To sign up for YARC, just follow the link below:

image by The Quiet Pond

My TBR for YARC is still a work in progress BUT I already have some books in mind:

I also have a Goodreads shelf, which I’ll be updating from time to time as I find more books to add to it. (I’d love some recs!)

And that’s about it 🙂 I hope you guys enjoyed this post and please go check out everyone I mentioned here (trust me, every one of them is a marvelous blogging gem you need in your life so don’t even think about it – just do it!)

Happy reading and feel free to link your own YARC posts in the comments! ❤

📖 Did you know about YARC? Are you planning to join?
📖 Do any of my book choices appeal to you?
📖 Do you usually read Asian authors?
Let me know below! 🙂

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54 thoughts on “YARC ~ Year of the Asian Reading Challenge 2019!”

  4. I AM BEYOND EXCITED FOR THIS READING CHALLENGEEEE! I am so glad that you are doing it too! Your TBR looks amazing, btw. SHADOW OF THE FOX WAS MY FAVORITE READ FROM 2018 SO LIKE, I HOPE YOU LOVE ITTTTT. Wow, I’m a Caps Lock fiend. I will stop now haha.

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    1. YAY ME TOO!! I’ve been seeing it around sooo much and thought I might as well just take part, otherwise where’s the fun? hahaha
      I have really really high hopes for Shadow of the Fox! Julie Kagawa seems to be one of those epic authors who I never actually had the pleasure to read so this is exciting 😀 I’m still keeping my expectations as low as possible just in case they affect the reading experience but aaargh it’s hard xD
      The fact that it’s your favourite read of last year DOES NOT HELP KEEP MY ENTHUSIASM DOWN and now I’m super looking forward to reading it ❤ ❤
      Hahaha nooo unleash the caps lock, girl! Meanwhile, I'll be dragging my syllables out like a madwoman xD

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  5. I’ve already read The Gilded Wolves from here, and the rep was amazing. The Filipina in me was so happy! ♥ I’m probably going to read The Girl King or Shadow of the Fox hopefully soon. The rest of these books are on my TBR as well–I cannot freaking wait for Spin the Dawn! Good luck with the challenge!

    – Aimee @ Aimee, Always

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    1. Aw, that’s so awesome to hear! I’m looking forward to it, I’ve heard wonderful things about the author but never actually read any of her books 😦
      Shadow of the Fox and Empress of All Seasons will probably be my next reads – I’m super excited!!
      Thanks so much, Aimee! Will you be participating as well? That would be pretty neat 🙂 ❤

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  7. Good luck with this challenge Sophie, it sounds like a great one and there are a fair few blogger I’ve seen who are taking part so I’ll be for sure tracking everyone’s progress and cheering them all on! 😀
    You have some great books to get through too. The Gilded Wolves is high on my TBR list, Roshani Chokshi is one of my favourite authors and her Star-Touched Queen duology was just amazing so I have high hopes for this new book from her.
    I wasn’t a massive fan of Empress of All Seasons, it was a good book but there were a few things which kept me from really loving it, and oh there is so much hype for We Hunt the Flame that I’ve seen in the community. The book sounds amazing so hopefully it will end up being as amazing as it sounds.
    Great post, and good luck with this reading challenge. 🙂 ❤

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    1. Thank you, Beth! I’d love for you to join as well 😀 Though I understand you might be busy or not want to, it’s just that it sounds so much fun ❤
      I haven't read Star-Touched Queen but I 'm really looking forward to this one! She does seem to be in everyone's favourite list, which makes me excited to try her writing ^^
      Aw that's a shame! I'll probably read it next… And Shadow of the Fox as well. They both have such amazing covers I always get heart eyes whenever I look at them xD I've been seeing We Hunt the Flame EVERYWHERE so yeah, it seems to be super hyped (which is intimidating hahaha)
      Thank you again, my lovely ❤ No matter the number of books read, as long as they're enjoyable, I count that as a successful challenge 🙂

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      1. That’s all right, and yeah I want to try a readathon but I don’t do well with TBR lists, maybe I’ll just try my best and see where I end up at the end of the year. 🙂
        Her writing is incredible, and the world building in that book is some of my favourite world building full stop.
        Same here, and yeah that can be kind of intimidating but I’m hoping it ends up one of those books that meets or even exceeds the hype. You never know right? 🙂 ❤️

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    1. I know, they’re so adorable! I wish I had their talent to create them…
      That would be awesome, absolutely! There was Latinx month not long ago, and tons of people participated. Did you manage to join? If not, you can always create your own challenge 🙂
      Thanks so much, Adriana ❤

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    1. Thank you so much! Yeah it does sound promising but a bit never-wrecking as well as I decide which books to read and how to get them and if I’ll try for other badges or not… We’ll see xD I’m hoping they’ll be fun, that’s the main thing!

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  11. This challenge sounds amazing and I’m so tempted to join. I just finished The Gilded Wolves which I adored, and am also looking forward to We Hunt the Flame, Blood Heir, and Descendant of the Crane. I also need to pick up The Poppy War already. Hope you enjoy these titles!

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    1. You should definitely join! I think it’s quite laidback so anyone can choose whichever level is easier for them and not stress about it too much 🙂
      Everyone raves about The Gilded Wolves! I’m super excited to try it now.
      All the others sound amazing too, to be honest, which will make it a real problem when deciding what to read next xD
      Thank you, Alicia ❤

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  12. Yay I’m so glad you’re joining this challenge, Sophie! ❤ I love your TBR – I read The Gilded Wolves and really loved it, I hope you will too! I can't wait to read Blood Heir, Spin The Dawn and We Hunt The Flame, they sound fabulous 😀
    Happy reading! ❤ ❤

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    1. Thank you, Dani! ❤ I'm super excited to try out all of these, I think they'll surprise me a lot. But I also want to keep my expectations as low as possible just in case I'm wrong hahaha
      Yeah I remember reading about Rebel Seoul on your blog so that was one of the first ones I considered for the list! 🙂 Thanks so much, by the way ^^

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  17. It’s wonderful that you’re taking part in this challenge, Sophie! Everyone should definitely try to inject some more diverse reads written by POCs in their TBR. I’m hoping to do the same this year. I just finished Forest of a Thousand Lanterns, and even though it wasn’t my all-time favorite, I really enjoyed the experience of the audiobook, the unique concepts, and the representation of Chinese culture 😀 I’d love to read some of the books on your TBR too! Got my eye on Gilded Wolves at the moment. I’ve heard some really great things about that one, so I hope you really enjoy it once you pick it up! Good luck with the challenge. I’ll be keeping an eye out for your updates ❤

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    1. Thank you! I’ve been meaning to do something like this for a while now, and I realise I do not have a very diverse reading experience… Not on purpose, though, I just kind of end up going for the same sort of books/characters/plots/authors.
      But that is changing now!
      Oh that’s really cool, I’ve heard so much about it and have been meaning to read it for a while now, but yeah I’m keeping my expectations veeerry low just in case xD
      You should totally join! You can use my list as inspiration, or you can steal it I don’t mind hahaha I’ll be adding more as I go too.
      Thank you so much, hon ❤ Let me know if you do join as well, that'd be brilliant ^^

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      1. It’s hard to get away from the genres/authors you love. But sometimes a little time away can do wonders! It’s always a wonderful feeling when you discover new authors and diversify your reading experiences 😀
        I might just steal it lol. I have no shame. But yeah! I think I might like to give it a try. I don’t think I’ll manage to fit in anymore books this month, but next month I got my sights set on Little Fires Everywhere! 😀

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        1. Yeah absolutely 😀 It’s just that sometimes it feels like I’m wasting my time looking for the next best thing when I already know the ones that work for me, ya know?
          Ah cool! It personally sounds like a bit too depressing for me so I’ll skip that one… But I hope you love it ^^

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          1. I feel that. Why change somethin that ain’t broke, right? LOL.
            I haven’t gotten very far in Little Fires Everywhere but it sure is making me nervous. I can already tell some sad things will happen and I’m not ready LOL

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  18. I do have some favorite Asian books, or ones with Asian characters. One of my favorite YA series features an Asian vampire! It is SO good! It’s called The Blood of Eden series. I loved Snowflower and the Secret Fan and The Ghost Bride – those two are some of my favs. This is a great idea!

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    1. Oh wow, I have to try that one! It’s been a while since I’ve read a vampire novel… And never encountered an Asian one before so that’s exciting 🙂
      I’ll definitely check the other two as well, thank you so much for the recs!
      Maybe you’d like to join the challenge? I think it’s quite a chill one so it’ll be easy to do ^^

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  22. I hope the reading challenge goes well! I have The Shadow of The Fox and The Tiger at Midnight and I want to read those ones a lot 😀 And I also have heard really great things about The Poppy War as well so hopefully you will love that one too x

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