What is it?

The Dumbledore’s Army Readathon is hosted by Aentee @ Read At Midnight. It’s a Harry Potter themed readathon that will run from January 1st to January 15th and the focus is to read diverse books. There is also a point system where you can score points for your Hogwarts House. All details can be find in Aentee’s post here. If you’d like to participate, you can sign up here as well. If you’d like to follow along, you can also check out the #DAReadAThon hashtag on Instagram and Twitter.

My Hogwarts House

Side note: I had a major Hogwarts house identity crisis before signing up for this readathon. I always considered myself a Ravenclaw (because I loved school, and still love learning and reading), but I finally took the Pottermore sorting quiz this month and was sorted in… Hufflepuff! Which I can also totally agree with as it totally fits my personality as well. Kindness, hard work, loyalty and fair play all rank pretty high in my book. So.. what to do now? I guess I’m divergent a Ravenpuff or Huffleclaw but for this readathon I had to choose just one. In the end, after a lot of debating it, I decided to go with my official Pottermore sorting and play for team Hufflepuff!

All banners were made by Aentee. Book covers come from Goodreads.

A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Barnard

Steffi doesn’t talk, but she has so much to say.
Rhys can’t hear, but he can listen.
Their love isn’t a lightning strike, it’s the rumbling roll of thunder.

Steffi has been a selective mute for most of her life – she’s been silent for so long that she feels completely invisible. But Rhys, the new boy at school, sees her. He’s deaf, and her knowledge of basic sign language means that she’s assigned to look after him. To Rhys, it doesn’t matter that Steffi doesn’t talk, and as they find ways to communicate, Steffi finds that she does have a voice, and that she’s falling in love with the one person who makes her feel brave enough to use it.

From the bestselling author of Beautiful Broken Things comes a love story about the times when a whisper is as good as a shout.

I chose this book because the main character has severe social anxiety and chronic shyness and this is a topic that is very near and dear to my heart. I’ve also heard a lot of great reviews on this, praising the diverse characters, the realistic take on mental illness and the sugary sweet romance.

For Today I Am A Boy by Kim Fu

Peter Huang and his sisters—elegant Adele, shrewd Helen, and Bonnie the bon vivant—grow up in a house of many secrets, then escape the confines of small-town Ontario and spread from Montreal to California to Berlin. Peter’s own journey is obstructed by playground bullies, masochistic lovers, Christian ex-gays, and the ever-present shadow of his Chinese father.

At birth, Peter had been given the Chinese name Juan Chaun, powerful king. The exalted only son in the middle of three daughters, Peter was the one who would finally embody his immigrant father’s ideal of power and masculinity. But Peter has different dreams: he is certain he is a girl.

Sensitive, witty, and stunningly assured, Kim Fu’s debut novel lays bare the costs of forsaking one’s own path in deference to one laid out by others. For Today I Am a Boy is a coming-of-age tale like no other, and marks the emergence of an astonishing new literary voice.

Unfortunately I haven’t read any book featuring a transgender character yet, so that’s why I picked For Today I Am A Boy. It doesn’t only feature a trans woman, but a trans woman of color, which seems rare as well.

Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst

Betrothed since childhood to the prince of Mynaria, Princess Dennaleia has always known what her future holds. Her marriage will seal the alliance between Mynaria and her homeland, protecting her people from other hostile lands. But Denna has a secret. She possesses an Affinity for fire—a dangerous gift for the future queen of a kingdom where magic is forbidden.

Now, Denna must learn the ways of her new home while trying to hide her growing magic. To make matters worse, she must learn to ride Mynaria’s formidable warhorses—and her teacher is the person who intimidates her most, the prickly and unconventional Princess Amaranthine—called Mare—the sister of her betrothed.

When a shocking assassination leaves the kingdom reeling, Mare and Denna reluctantly join forces to search for the culprit. As the two become closer, Mare is surprised by Denna’s intelligence and bravery, while Denna is drawn to Mare’s independent streak. And soon their friendship is threatening to blossom into something more.

But with dangerous conflict brewing that makes the alliance more important than ever, acting on their feelings could be deadly. Forced to choose between their duty and their hearts, Mare and Denna must find a way to save their kingdoms—and each other.

This f/f fantasy has been on my TBR for a while and I am super excited to read it! I haven’t read that many f/f books yet, so the fact that this is a fantasy and written by an LGBTQIA+ author make it an even bigger must-read.

The Rose and the Dagger by Renee Ahdieh

In a land on the brink of war, Shahrzad is forced from the arms of her beloved husband, the Caliph of Khorasan. She once thought Khalid a monster—a merciless killer of wives, responsible for immeasurable heartache and pain—but as she unraveled his secrets, she found instead an extraordinary man and a love she could not deny. Still, a curse threatens to keep Shazi and Khalid apart forever.

Now she’s reunited with her family, who have found refuge in the desert, where a deadly force is gathering against Khalid—a force set on destroying his empire and commanded by Shazi’s spurned childhood sweetheart. Trapped between loyalties to those she loves, the only thing Shazi can do is act. Using the burgeoning magic within her as a guide, she strikes out on her own to end both this terrible curse and the brewing war once and for all. But to do it, she must evade enemies of her own to stay alive.

The saga that began with The Wrath and the Dawn takes its final turn as Shahrzad risks everything to find her way back to her one true love again.

I loved The Wrath and the Dawn but for some reason I never started the sequel, The Rose and the Dagger, so I thought I could catch two birds with one stone and read it for this readathon. Shahrzad is an amazing and strong female main character and this series, which is based on A Thousand and One Nights, is beautifully diverse.

I’ll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson

Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah’s story to tell. The later years are Jude’s. What the twins don’t realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.

This contemporary story featuring an LGBTQIA+ character has been on my TBR for too long. I finally received the book for my birthday this year but I still haven’t read it. So this readathon is the perfect occasion!

Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley

Sixteen-year-old Solomon is agoraphobic. He hasn’t left the house in three years, which is fine by him.

Ambitious Lisa desperately wants to get into the second-best psychology program for college (she’s being realistic). But is ambition alone enough to get her in?

Enter Lisa.

Determined to “fix” Sol, Lisa steps into his world, along with her charming boyfriend, Clark, and soon the three form an unexpected bond. But, as Lisa learns more about Sol and he and Clark grow closer and closer, the walls they’ve built around themselves start to collapse and their friendships threaten to do the same.

This story has been so hyped and praised and has been on my TBR for too long. It features a gay character with severe agoraphobia and the girl who is trying to ‘fix’ him. I heard that this has a very good representation of mental illness and how it can’t just be ‘fixed’, but also has an amazing friendship and is super nerdy.

Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

She’s more gunpowder than girl—and the fate of the desert lies in her hands.

Mortals rule the desert nation of Miraji, but mystical beasts still roam the wild and barren wastes, and rumor has it that somewhere, djinni still practice their magic. But there’s nothing mystical or magical about Dustwalk, the dead-end town that Amani can’t wait to escape from.

Destined to wind up “wed or dead,” Amani’s counting on her sharpshooting skills to get her out of Dustwalk. When she meets Jin, a mysterious and devastatingly handsome foreigner, in a shooting contest, she figures he’s the perfect escape route. But in all her years spent dreaming of leaving home, she never imagined she’d gallop away on a mythical horse, fleeing the murderous Sultan’s army, with a fugitive who’s wanted for treason. And she’d never have predicted she’d fall in love with him… or that he’d help her unlock the powerful truth of who she really is.

Ok, this fantasy with Middle Eastern influences was not recommended to me by any particular fellow book blogger, BUT it has been highly praised by several fellow book bloggers so I can consider this a recommendation, right?

Are you participating in the DA Readathon? What’s on your TBR? DO you have any other diverse book recommendations for me?