September 30, 2018

September 2018 Wrap-Up & October 2018 TBR

So September went back to being a normal reading month for me. Another 12 books finished! I probably could have finished more, but I got sick about halfway through the month and it put a temporary stop on my reading for 4 or 5 days. Bleck! But still. 12 books is solid! Reviews that are live are linked. If it's not linked, it's scheduled for sometime in the next two weeks.

What I Read This Month:

• Three Dark Crowns (Three Dark Crowns #1) by Kendare Blake (4.5/5 Stars)
• A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic #1) by V.E. Schwab (4/5 Stars)
• Muse of Nightmares (Strange The Dreamer #2) by Laini Taylor (5/5 Stars)
• The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air #1) by Holly Black (4.5/5 Stars)

So Muse of Nightmares!!! Ahhh. SO SO GOOD!! Man. So much happened. And I finally read The Cruel Prince and Three Dark Crowns and absolutely loved both of them! :D

• Queen of Shadows (Throne of Glass #4) by Sarah J. Maas (5/5 Stars)
• Empire of Storms (Throne of Glass #5) by Sarah J. Maas (5/5 Stars)
• Impostors (Uglies #5) by Scott Westerfeld (5/5 Stars)
• Wildcard (Warcross #2) by Marie Lu (5/5 Stars)

Wow guys. I didn't even realize putting together the images, that I made an entire line of 5 star reads. LOL. So I've come to realize that since Heir of Fire I've been easily 5 starring ever ToG book, but each book for different reasons than the last. I like that each one gives me different reasons to loved it. And Impostors!! Guys. You guys know I've been happily waiting for this. New Uglies books?? YES PLEASE! Impostors was great. It stayed true to ideas and events in the original books while also introducing a wonderful intriguing new story. LOVE! And Wildcard! Ok. So I've noticed something. It seems like people are half and half, but I've noticed a specific half and half. It seems like the people that LOVED and 5 starred Warcross felt meh about Wildcard. But then people like me who were super meh about Warcross LOVED Wildcard. I personally thought it was fantastic and MUCH better and not predictable like Warcross was. 

• The Last of August (Charlotte Holmes #2) by Brittany Cavallaro (4/5 Stars)
• The Case for Jamie (Charlotte Holmes #3) by Brittany Cavallaro (4.5/5 Stars)
• Always and Forever, Lara Jean (To All The Boys I've Loved Before #3) by Jenny Han (5/5 Stars)
• Furyborn (The Empirium Trilogy #1) by Claire Legrand (DNF 1/5 Stars)

So I'm all caught up on the Charlotte Holmes novels! I really like them. Such fun mystery books! I was pretty happy with the ending to Always and Forever, Lara Jean. Ok, lets talk about the elephant in my wrap-up. I DNF'ed Furyborn. I tried so hard guys. I've tried reading it 4 separate times and only managed to get 33% of the way (about 150-160 pages). This is my first DNF this year. I just couldn't. I didn't feel much towards either character. It was confusing me as to who is supposed to be what queen. The worlds didn't really feel much different even being 1000 years apart. I really wanted to love it but I just can't. I did write up a DNF review for it since I did get 150ish pages in and it was from NetGalley. I did notice I wasn't the only one that had some of these issues. It seems like Furyborn was either a big hit or a huge miss depending on the person.

Happenings On The Blog:

• I posted a Discussion on How To Conquer Your TBR Pile! Cuz we all could use some help on managing them! 
• I posted about My Most Anticipated Fall 2018 Releases!
• I shared some books that I think are Hidden Gems! 

Posts I Enjoyed Around The Blogosphere:

• #ARCtober - A challenge hosted by Elley The Book Otter inspired by #ARCAugust! Of which I will definitely participate in because you can never have enough motivation to finish those ARCs! 
• AJ @ Read All The Things! shared Abandoned Places She'd Love To Read About! - AJ, you write such great discussion posts! I swear I'm always featuring one of them in my wrap-up each month! :)

Hehe. So I've clearly made a more Halloween/October Themed graphic for this. :D I'm so excited for October guys. Like you have no idea!!! :D :D :D You'll also notice a fair amount of my October reads have a darker, or Halloween type of feel. 

• Tower of Dawn (Throne of Glass #6) by Sarah J. Maas
• Kingdom of Ash (Throne of Glass #7) by Sarah J. Maas
• Ace of Shades (The Shadow Game #1) by Amanda Foody
• The Darkest Star (Origin #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

So obviously minus Kingdom of Ash, these are all books from my September TBR that I wasn't able to get to. I almost had time for Tower of Dawn. I just cut it too close to the end of the month with finishing Empire of Storms. 

• One Dark Throne (Three Dark Crowns #2) by Kendare Blake
• Queens of Fennbirn (Three Dark Crowns #0.5) by Kendare Blake
• Two Dark Reigns (Three Dark Crowns #3) by Kendare Blake
• Beneath The Citadel by Destiny Soria

So obviously I'm planning to catch up on the Three Dark Crowns series!!! And Beneath The Citadel comes out on October 9th! So I'm reading that. I actually am already about 5 chapters into it, but obviously I'll be finishing the bulk of it in October!

• Nevernight (The Nevernight Chronicles #1) by Jay Kristoff 
• Godsgrave (The Nevernight Chronicles #2) by Jay Kristoff
• Hunting Prince Dracula (Stalking Jack The Ripper #2) by Kerri Maniscalco
• This Savage Song (Monsters of Verity #1) by Victoria Schwab

If you've been following me this month, you'll know I did start Nevernight. Just haven't got back to it yet. Got distracted by other books. Lol. And I've been saving This Savage Song just for October. 

• Lady Midnight (The Dark Artifices #1) by Cassandra Clare
• The Madness Underneath (Shades of London #2) by Maureen Johnson
• Siege and Storm (The Grisha Trilogy #2) by Leigh Bardugo
• The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Stiefvater