Heyy everyone, drop everything (but nothing fragile okay? i am basically broke i won’t be able to reimburse) and looky here because we have an exciting new bookish project to introduce today. *round of applause in the background*
Ok first off. If you were paying attention, you’ll now ask me Rachel who’s ‘we’? Fear not, I am not using the royal we, I actually have another person collaborating with me on this, and that is none other than Maddie from Inking and Thinking! *another round of applause*
Now your next question (because I like to take care of my audience’s needs, no need to thank me) is probably going to be enough talk Rachel, now can you tell me WHAT exactly this is all about?? Hey hey I’m getting to that, don’t shout.
So let me introduce you to our own bookish version of March Madness (which is a single-elimination basketball tournament played each spring in the United States), brought to you by Maddie and myself!
The basic idea is to compare two books each week and declare a ‘winner’, as in select the book we enjoyed more. Then this book will be ‘competing’ with a new book the next week and so on. We’ll start off with two books for the first week (which starts today, so look down below for our book picks), and then read one book each for the following weeks and compare it with the previous winner.
Slight twist here. Keeping in mind our different reading tastes, Maddie and I are going to be choosing 2 different books each week. This will also allow us to incorporate more genres and more books. But since we do not want to take away the “collab” sense of it all, at the very end, when each of us has a final winner from our lot, we are going to compare these to for the ULTIMATE BOOK CHAMPION (ok that sounds a little extra)
We’ll be picking 5 books initially, and then our 6th read will be the other’s “winning” book, so this project is expected to be continuing a bit into April as well. (Mapril Madness?? Eh no let’s stick to the original)
I understand if this is not making a lot of sense at the moment, but there are going to be progress check-ins and all, and I’m sure it’ll make a lot more sense then.
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And now, without further ado, here are my picks for the first week of March! Put your hands together for our first competitors!!


We’re really going for contrast here. On one side we have a dark-ish fantasy that gives wintry night vibes and on the other is a cutesy reverse mamma mia contemporary! Who shalleth wineth? (ok I’ll google the old english next time) That, my friends, only time and Rachel’s mood will tell.
Before you leave, don’t forget to check out Maddie’s post to see her book picks!

Which book do you think will win? Place your bets quickly, because you shall soon know the winner in the next March Madness post!
~ Rachel
I know absolutely nothing about these books, but dark-ish fantasy with wintry night vibes sounds so cool that I’m just gonna place my bet on that! 🤩
Anyway, this is such a cool collab idea, guys, and I can’t wait to find out who the ultimate winner is going to be! 🤗
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oooh fair bet now you just gotta wait 👀
thank you thank you, we can’t wait either!!
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First of all, I LOVE THIS COLLAB IDEA!!! March Madness is always a big deal in my house, but I must say I much prefer this version. Also, I love both of these books, I don’t envy you for having to choose a winner (although I’m SO curious on who will win!!)
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bookish anything is the best anything!
oh yes, the way things are going, it’s gonna be HARD to choose. (trust me to put myself into situations like these)
thank you kaya 🙂
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Love the idea! Those books are so different I wouldn’t even know how to choose one of them. I get the feeling this will be a fun but hard process 😝
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yess its just my luck that BOTH of these are amazing, i have no idea how i’m going to choose
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I love this idea. I seen different versions of this done on the web and I have to say the bookish version is probably my favorite. I haven’t read either of these and being the romance reader that I am I want to say that one will win but I know that not a lot of people like romance so I am going to go with the other one winning.
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Just went and read the synopsis of the each of the books and the one I assumed was a romance isn’t actually a romance. I still think Down Comes the Night will be the winner though.
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oooh you’re with the majority there, lots of people are voting for dctn!
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ooh, i LOVE this collab idea!! i can’t wait to see which book wins! my book (because i don’t have money 🤣) is on Down Comes the Night because of the cover. also “dark wintry fantasy” sounds pretty cool!
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thank you ash!!
fair point, although i must warn you it is VERY risky to gamble with a book because you could actually lose it. but lets hope that doesn’t happen, since dctn certainly seems to be the people’s choice here!
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it was actually a school textbook lol.
[whelp, seems that i lost! hehe]
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AHHH THIS IS SUCH A COOL IDEA!!! I’ve never heard of down comes the night before but it seems so good from the synopsis!! And I’ve heard good things about Emma Lord’s other book-Tweet Cute , so I hope if you get the chance is just as wonderful!!
I think my bet is on if you get the chance this time !! 😆
cant wait to see which book wins!!!
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when you get the chance *** not if oops
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ahh emma lord definitely gets a lot if praise, and i’m in the process of finding out why rn 👀
yay we have a when you get a chance enthusiast here too!! i can’t wait either, tysm suhani!!
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Oooooh, amazing idea! I haven’t read either of the books but I love the vibes Down Comes The Night is giving me. Eager to see which one wins!
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you’re certainly not alone in counting on dctn, it seems to be the popular choice! let’s see 👀
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OH MY GOSH RACHEL I LOVE THE IDEA SO MUCH AHHHHH!!! Annnnd I obviously cannot wait to see which one wins but my bet is on down comes the night LIKE EVERYONE IN THE COMMENTS because I am BASIC. And also because I firmly believe that fantasy is SUPERIOR MWUAHAHA
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YAY GLAD YOU LIKE IT ANOUSHKA!
oooh going for the popular choice huh? good for you (and about fantasy being superior? a few months ago i would have agreed but now… eh debatable)
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