Reindeer Readathon 2025 Wrap-Up

 It was that time of year! Yes, this is my wrap-up of 2025’s Reindeer Readathon!

For those who don’t know about the Reindeer Readathon, this is competitive Readathon with the theme of Christmas at its heart. It was created by Erik from Breakeven Books (here is the links to their YouTube, Instagram and Goodreads). 

I should put all the prompts down below so you can see the challenges. However, I am me and I’m a slow reader at the best of times so I’m going to do is list the prompts I achieved throughout the month of December, then chat briefly about the book/audiobook that completed each task. 

Shall we begin?

DANCER - 20 PTS

A book that matches (genre, trope, theme etc) one of the first 5 words that you find in the word search. Must be a word from the list.

BONUS POINTS: CHRISTMAS LIGHTS - 15PTS: An ebook.

My five words I found in the withdrawing pipes search were Chosen One, Forbidden Love, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction and Science Fiction. Out of these five, I went with Death in Ambush by Susan Gilruth. Published in 1952, this is a Forgotten Golden Age of Crime novel set after the Second World War. I do like British Library Crime Classic and I like this series for trying to spotlight forgotten authors/titles (I want to read more Golden Age Crime). I did like this, but it took a lot longer for me to read than this mystery books usually do. (Plus, I almost move this book to Dasher prompt. I shall explain later…) 

PRANCER - 25 PTS

The title has at least 7 syllables.

BONUS POINT: CHRISTMAS CAROLS - 20 PTS: An audiobook.

Everyone Here Is Lying by Shari Lapena. I went into this audiobook knowing as little as possible (I have a few other titles by this author on my e-reader, but this is her biggest title from the tiny research I did) and it is messy. In a good way. I have heard this isn’t the author’s best domestic thriller and I can see why (no one in the street has a DoorCam/Ring? Seriously?!), but I do have two other of this author’s titles on my kindle TBR (Not A Happy Family & She Didn’t See It Coming) and am going to pop these higher on my 2026 TBR. 

VIXEN - 15 PTS

The author has an initial in their name.

There was only one choice: E. Lockhart. I reread We Were Liars earlier this year (still so good) and was tempted to reread Family of Liars (I wasn’t a big fan of it on my first read) but when I discovered We Fell Apart, I became hugely intrigued. How would this companion novel work? [I have now read this and this was… oh boy… frustrating. The characters and situation were frustrating. Let’s move on from that, shall we?)

COMET - 10 PTS

Based on your astrology sign, read a book where one of the 3 listed colors is the main color on the cover.

~Cancer, Leo, Virgo: white, orange, or brown.

~Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius: pink, black, or purple.

~Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces: grey, blue, or turquoise.

~Aries, Taurus, Gemini: red, green, or yellow.

This doesn’t work for this prompt like I thought when I impulsively started this, only to realise 3/4 of the way through that the cover colours I needed to complete this prompt is red, green or yellow. And this is pink. So, Boyfriend Without Benefits by Riley Hart didn’t fit the bill (but sometimes, you need something fun, low stakes and cosy to read. Especially round Xmas, right?). But ‘no points here!

I did hope to start and finish before 2025 The Magician’s Nephew by CS Lewis, but alas, finished it on New Year Day as I wanted to start & finish something “light”, but man, smash your Christianity in my face, won’t you CS Lewis? 

So… yeah, that’s all I did. I wanted to do more but Death by Ambush took so much longer than I expected. And I had ideas for titles for two other prompts (which prompts, you ask? I’m not gonna tell but pay attention to my audiobook listen throughout the course of January and maybe February and you might see a pattern…)

I always like doing the Reindeer Readathon. They are fun, so huge thank you to Erik for hosting as always and to each team’s leaders! Been a blast - sorry I failed the team but there’s always December 2026.