October wrap-up

Wow. The end of October is here and, well, I am sad.

October has always been my favorite month. And, I have to say, I’m really happy with how this one went. I read so many books that I enjoyed, so I think this is going to be my best month in a long time.

Let’s go for it!

Okay, so I read 23 books with an average of 3.5. That is the highest I’ve had in months, for those who have been keeping track. I’m finding that when I read books I really want to, I rate them higher. Not reading new releases since, well, most of them don’t suit my fancy. I think I need to keep this month in mind in the future.

Now the little details.

• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by JKR

Easy 5/5 for me. I’m continuing on with the reread and I just love it. Eventually, Chantel and I will do joint reviews for these, but there is no ETA for them. Just so y’all know.

• The Devouring by Simon Holt

4/5 for this reread! I had a lot of fun with it and I’m really glad that this lived up to my expectations since I’ve built this up in my head for a while.

• In An Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire

3.5/5 and this was an ARC provided by Tor. (Huge thank you to them!!) I wanted to love it more than I did. It was still good, but I didn’t fall in love like I have in the past.

• American Overdose by Chris McGreal

4/5 and probably the scariest book I read this month tbh. It’s an ARC and it’ll come out in November, but I highly recommend it if you want to see the timeline of the opioid crisis. It’s chilling.

• A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne

1/5 and a very sad DNF. It was one of those DNFs where I could have totally read it all but I had no interest in doing so. Also, this was an ARC and the book will be out in November!

• My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

COMING ON HERE 10/29 I gave this 3.5/5 because it was a good debut novel, but there were just threads/ideas that were left hanging that I couldn’t reconcile. A fine book, but it was lacking something. Oh, and this is an ARC that will be published November 20th!

• You Are Not Your Thoughts by Frances Trussell

COMING ON HERE 10/29 This was a solid 3/5 for me. A great book for beginners who don’t want to be bogged down by doctrine or old hats who just want new practices. It’s a good book, but I couldn’t use it like I wanted to.

• Apart in the Dark by Ania Ahlborn

4/5 for me and my review will come out in November. It was another solid set of stories by Ahlborn and so good. You’ll see my full thoughts in early November!

• The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey

4/5 and another great reread for me. Like, damn. I built this series up so much in my head and it totally fit it.

• The Green Mile by Stephen King

5/5 for me! I definitely think this is one of the best King books of all time. My review will be published in early November, but it was just so damn good. I also rewatched the movie with Chantel and there were many tears on my end.

• The Curse of the Wendigo by Rick Yancey

Another 4/5 for me! I don’t think it’s the strongest book in the series, but I still had such fun rereading it!

• The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White

1/5 and my second out of three (yes! just three!!) DNFs for this month. I couldn’t get into it and I’m basically positive that White isn’t my kind of author.

• The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

An easy 3/5 because at some points it was excellent and others it definitely wasn’t. Also, I totally binged the TV show over my week of anxiety (aka, my dating attempt) and it was SO. MUCH. BETTER.

I laughed. I screamed. I ugly cried my way through the ending. You know, normal TV stuff.

Also, hilarious sibling stuff.

• What Dying People Want by David Kuhl

5/5 and a book I’ll recommend to everyone. The topic doesn’t sound that great, but it’s one of the best books I’ve read about death and dying.

• What the Woods Keep by Katya de Becerra

This is the third DNF, so it’s 1/5 for me. I wanted to like it, but it felt like a debut. And not a good one at that.

• The Isle of Blood by Rick Yancey

This book used to be on my favorites shelf, but I removed it after this reread. Not a bad book, since I gave it 4/5, but it wasn’t as good as I remembered it to be.

• Soulstice by Simon Holt

I gave this a 4/5 but it probably didn’t deserve it now that I’m looking back on it. (Whoops.) Still, it was a solid sequel, but it definitely hints the direction the series went that I wasn’t interested in.

• The Final Descent by Rick Yancey

What a crazy pants book right here. I gave it 4/5 but it really is the best book in the series. It’s also the weirdest and the book goes in a direction that I don’t think most liked. Still, I thought it was great.

• Fearscape by Simon Holt

COMING ON HERE 10/28 The final book in this series gets a 3/5 because the series was fine overall and I liked it, but I wasn’t a fan of the direction it went in. Just, well, you know how it goes.

• Penguin Monarchs series

I’ve started collecting the paperbacks of these books because they’re so cool and make a “family” tree of the different rulers. This month, I read William III and Mary II, Edward VII, George V, and Edward VIII. All of them got 4/5 but I didn’t review them on here because they’re super short, I don’t have any meaningful input, and I’m lazy. The links will take you to the reviews, which are just a few sentences long.

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So, that’s my month right there! I also did some fun tags and that one personal post where I came out to the internet.

What was your favorite and least favorite book this month?
Link me to your favorite post so I can be sure to read it!

October 31, 2018October 30, 2018 by bwreviews Categories: caidynTags: book blog, book blogger, monthly wrap-up, october wrap-up, wrap-up 11 Comments