Hello, hello, friends! ✨ The Magical Readathon: Orilium Autumn Equinox 2023 ✨ is. nowover which means another semester and another year have come and gone at Orilium. Can you believe it? I can’t. 😂 Now that classes are over, it’s time to wrap up what I read and see how Meeska fared this semester. Much like it was IRL, the Autumn Equinox was pretty low-key but that didn’t stop Meeska from just making it to the finish line, lol. We’re a mess! But on that note, let’s take a look at what got read this semester. As always, thanks to G for continuously making this one of the best and most magical readathons out there! 💜✨
If you’re confused and don’t know what I’m on about, you’re totally fine. Check out this video by our super lovely host and creator of this wonderful magical readathon, G @ Book Roast!
CHARACTER BACKGROUND

Guild Tier Status: Exhaulted (360 pts)

- Name: Meeska Shonara
- Guild: House of the Arcane
- Calling: Illusionist Rogue
- Background: Urban
- Province: Kerador
- Heritage: Earthling (Fire)
- Conduit: Staff
- Legacy: Pocket Dimension

Orilium Autumn Equinox Class Prompts + Possibility Pile

To quickly recap: Meeska continued their pursuit of the Illusionist Rogue calling and attended the same three classes as the Spring semester: Art of Illusion, Psionics & Divination, and Shapeshifting. They needed to read 5 books in total to pass the Autumn semester and THEY PASSED!
Now that the second year at Orilium is complete, I think it means that Meeska is now an Adept Illusionist Rogue. (Is that right? Or are they a Master? If anyone figures it out, please let me know, lol)
As with the previous semester, we didn’t really go too hard this time and only participated in the Demonology Challenge because none of the supplementary opportunities and qualifications really called out to us.
Also, if anyone knows how many points completing the demonology challenge gets, please let me know!

*covers linked to Goodreads*
‘O’ IN SHAPESHIFTING:
FORMATION – FANGS: READ A BOOK WITH VAMPIRES

I read The Agent and the Outlaw (Les Dames Dangereuses #2) by Lily Riley.
Genre: Historical Paranormal Romantic Suspense
Panda Rating:

3.5 pandas
📖 SYNOPSIS
The murder of a marquis, an accidental kidnapping, an elite vampire death squad, and a beast stalking the French countryside? All in a day’s work for a member of the les Dames Dangereuses.
As the most enviable comtesse of the tonne, Charlotte de Brionne was almost satisfied with her wealth, power, and rather tepid marriage, until her murderous husband betrayed her.
Now she has seized the chance to make a more adventurous start with les Dames Dangereuses, an order of women spies in service to the French crown. But her latest assignment is rudely interrupted when she is kidnapped by a crossbow-wielding madman, who turns out to be not at all mad only rather surly and annoyingly handsome.
Lieutenant Antoine de Valle has no idea what to make of the exasperating, untrustworthy, and frustratingly beautiful woman he’s suddenly saddled with, but his honor demands he see Charlotte safely home. Especially since it’s his fault she accidentally witnesses his murder of a marquis, ends up on the wrong end of a brutal vampire death squad, and barely survives an encounter with the Beast of Gévaudan.
In fact, the more Antoine tries to keep Charlotte safe, the more trouble they find themselves in. And the harder it is for Antoine to remember his honor in the face of Charlotte’s dangerous charms.
‘D’ IN ART OF ILLUSION:
O – LEVITATION SPELL: READ WITHOUT TOUCHING THE FLOOR/GROUND

I read The Warlord Wants Forever (Immortals After Dark #0.5) by Kresley Cole.
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Panda Rating:

3 pandas
📖 SYNOPSIS
Nikolai Wroth, once a ruthless human warlord in the 1700s and now a general in the rebel vampire army, needs to find his bride, the one woman who can render him truly alive. As a turned human, he doesn’t enjoy a heartbeat or breathing and is consequently weaker than fully blooded vampires. He wants his bride for the power she will bring him and can hardly believe it when his heart beats for Myst the Coveted, a mad, fey, mythological creature.
She eludes him for five years, but he has finally chased her to ground and stolen the jewel which commands her, giving him absolute power over her. While he possesses it, he can make her do anything, and he plans to in order for her to experience firsthand the agonizing, unending lust she’d purposely subjected him to for half a decade. Yet when Wroth realizes he wants more from her and frees her, will she come.
Q – VOICE ALTERING SPELLS: AUDIOBOOK

I listened to the audiobook for The Seventh Bride by T. Kingfisher.
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Panda Rating:

4 pandas
📖 SYNOPSIS
Young Rhea is a miller’s daughter of low birth, so she is understandably surprised when a mysterious nobleman, Lord Crevan, shows up on her doorstep and proposes marriage. Since commoners don’t turn down lords—no matter how sinister they may seem—Rhea is forced to agree to the engagement.
Lord Crevan demands that Rhea visit his remote manor before their wedding. Upon arrival, she discovers that not only was her betrothed married six times before, but his previous wives are all imprisoned in his enchanted castle. Determined not to share their same fate, Rhea asserts her desire for freedom. In answer, Lord Crevan gives Rhea a series of magical tasks to complete, with the threat “Come back before dawn, or else I’ll marry you.”
With time running out and each task more dangerous and bizarre than the last, Rhea must use her resourcefulness, compassion, and bravery to rally the other wives and defeat the sorcerer before he binds her to him forever.
D – DISGUISE SKILLS FOR EMERGENCIES: BOOK WITH NO MAGIC

I listened to the audiobook for Role Playing by Cathy Yardley.
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Panda Rating:

4.5 pandas
📖 SYNOPSIS
Maggie is an unapologetically grumpy forty-eight-year-old hermit. But when her college-aged son makes her a deal―he’ll be more social if she does the same―she can’t refuse. She joins a new online gaming guild led by a friendly healer named Otter. So that nobody gets the wrong idea, she calls herself Bogwitch.
Otter is Aiden, a fifty-year-old optimist using the guild as an emotional outlet from his family drama caring for his aging mother while his brother plays house with Aiden’s ex-fiancée.
Bogwitch and Otter become fast virtual friends, but there’s a catch. Bogwitch thinks Otter is a college student. Otter assumes Bogwitch is an octogenarian.
When they finally meet face to face―after a rocky, shocking start―the unlikely pair of sunshine and stormy personalities grow tentatively closer. But Maggie’s previous relationships have left her bitter, and Aiden’s got a complicated past of his own.
Everything’s easier online. Can they make it work in real life?
‘O’ IN PSIONICS & DIVINATION:
INTRODUCTION TO TAROT: RANDOM TAROT GENERATOR, SAME SYMBOL IN TITLE OR COVER

The card I drew was ‘The Fool’, which had loads of symbols on it. I ended up reading Maggie Moves On by Lucy Score which had a dog on the cover, which was one of the symbols on the tarot card.
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Panda Rating:

4 pandas
📖 SYNOPSIS
Can these opposites turn up the heat… without burning down the house?
House-flipping sensation and YouTube star Maggie Nichols can’t wait to dig into her next challenge. Arriving in tiny Kinship, Idaho, with only a cot and a coffeemaker, Maggie is prepared to restore a crumbling Victorian mansion in four months or less. She has her to-do lists, her blueprints, and her team. What she doesn’t have is time for sexy, laid-back landscaper Silas Wright.
The man takes flirtation to a whole new level. And he does it shirtless…sometimes pants-less. He and his service school-dropout dog are impressively persistent. But she’s not interested in putting down roots. Not when fans tune in to watch her travel the country turning dilapidated houses into dream homes. A short-term fling on the other hand could fit nicely into her calendar. After all, Maggie remembers what fun is like. Vaguely.
As their summer gets downright steamy, Silas manages to demolish the emotional walls she’s spent years building, sending Maggie into a panic. He’s the wrench in her carefully constructed plans. With the end of the project looming, she has a decision to make. But how can she stay when her entire career is built on moving on?

DEMONOLOGY CHALLENGE: IMPLINGS SUMMONING

I didn’t plan on doing the Demonology Challenge and it was really only by chance that two of the books I read in August fit the prompts to complete the full summoning circle! 😈

For the purple line, I read Amari and the Great Game (Supernatural Investigations #2) by B. B. Alston. It’s 400 pages, one letter appears twice, it’s by an author I’ve read before, and I started it at night.
Genre: Middle-Grade Fantasy
Panda Rating:

4 pandas
📖 SYNOPSIS
Artemis Fowl meets Men in Black in this magical second book in the New York Times and Indie bestselling Supernatural Investigations trilogy—perfect for fans of Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, the Percy Jackson series, and Nevermoor.
After finding her brother and saving the entire supernatural world, Amari Peters is convinced her first full summer as a Junior Agent will be a breeze.
But between the fearsome new Head Minister’s strict anti-magician agenda, fierce Junior Agent rivalries, and her brother Quinton’s curse steadily worsening, Amari’s plate is full. So when the secretive League of Magicians offers her a chance to stand up for magiciankind as its new leader, she declines. She’s got enough to worry about!
But her refusal allows someone else to step forward, a magician with dangerous plans for the League. This challenge sparks the start of the Great Game, a competition to decide who will become the Night Brothers’ successor and determine the future of magiciankind.
The Great Game is both mysterious and deadly, but among the winner’s magical rewards is Quinton’s last hope—so how can Amari refuse?

For the peach line, I read Love & Resistance by Kara H.L. Chen. One letter appears twice, it was released in 2023, it has blue on the cover and I started it at night.
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Panda Rating:

4.5 pandas
📖 SYNOPSIS
Seventeen-year-old Olivia Chang is at her fourth school in seven years. Her self-imposed solitude is lonely, but safe. At Plainstown High, however, Olivia’s usual plan of anonymity fails when the infamous Mitzi Clarke (influencer, queen bee, bully) makes a pointed racist comment in class. Olivia knows what she must do: let it go. But Olivia is tired of ignoring things just so she can survive. This time, she defends herself.
That is the end of her invisible life.
Soon, Olivia discovers, and joins forces with, the Nerd Net: a secret society who has been thwarting Mitzi’s reign of terror for months. Together, they plan to unite the masses and create true change at Plainstown High.
But in order to succeed, Olivia must do something even more terrifying than lead a movement: trust other people. She might even make true friends along the way… if Mitzi doesn’t destroy her first.

That’s a wrap for the 2023 Autumn Equinox and Meeska’s second year at the Orilium Academy. Did you join the Magical Readathon this year? How did you do this semester? See you next year! ✨

I think you passed! And by reading some good books it seems.
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I barely finished my classes this month, which is ridiculous considering I read 23 books. 🤣 I just got too distracted by Trope-ical Readathon, I guess.
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Looks like you had a lot of fun, Dini!
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You did great, Dini! I love the Magical Readathon, but it didn’t go well for me this time. 😅
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[…] Did I Pass My Classes? The Magical Readathon: Orilium Autumn Equinox 2023 […]
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Loved seeing your Magical Readathon wrapup 🥰 I can’t believe August is already over! I also read Role Playing and I loved it – it was so geeky and fun 😊
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