I had a pretty excellent month of reading in August. 13 books!! I touched on just about every genre {YA, romance, fantasy, non-fiction, racism, chick lit, self-help} and reading medium {audiobooks, physical books, and ebooks} - quite an eclectic month.
This was an interesting month of reading - some excellent 5 star reads and some 'meh' reads. Hopefully you can find something to enjoy too!
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros - Holy smokes! People raved about this book, and the hype was 100% right! This is what my fantasy series dreams are made of! This was an excellent book 1 - great world building, great characters, great spiciness, just awesome all around! I'm so excited book 2 comes out in November!
The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green - This was a series of essays written by author John Green as he tried to process his feelings during the start of the COVID pandemic. He covered off on all kinds of wild topics - like scratch 'n sniff stickers (ha) - and I loved how he shared so much vulnerability in these stories. My only challenge was it was easy to put the book down when I finished an essay and not super easy to pick it back up again. But the writing was top notch!
Borrow My Heart by Kasie West [audiobook]- I think Kasie West's YA books are usually pretty cute, and this was, but it was also kind of eyeroll worthy - maybe I'm getting too old for YA?!?! This follows Wren as she helps out a guy who is there to meet his online crush but she has catfished him. Cute-ish but not memorable.
Good Morning, Monster by Catherine Gildiner - OMG this was fantastic. Drew picked this book for me based on the cover - she knows I hate eggs and thought it would be funny to get me to read this. Well, jokes on her, it was EXCELLENT. These stories of people who have had traumatic childhoods and recover through therapy...man, their stories were so upsetting but their recoveries were so incredible. I just loved every story and loved the author's writing style. This was a huge winner for me and will be a favorite of the year.
Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer - I love a good YA fantasy trilogy, and this is the second I've read by Brigid, and this was great! This is the story of a kingdom, Kandala, that is experiencing a mysterious virus that can only be cured by a certain flower. A girl, Tessa, and the Prince, Corrick, end up intertwined in their efforts to save Kandala. I was super excited that book 2 was already out {I already finished it}, and book 3 comes out in January, yay!
Queen Charlotte by Julia Queen and Shonda Rhimes [audiobook] - If you liked anything Bridgerton, you'll enjoy this! This goes before all the Bridgerton stories and it's the story of [duh] Queen Charlotte and King George. Overall, I liked it but found it a smidge tedious at times. I haven't watched this series on Netflix, but now I really want to!
Stamped From the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi [audiobook] - 'The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America' 100% sums up this book. {grin} This isn't an easy book for a few reasons - it's a tough topic and it's also written like a textbook. I thoroughly enjoyed learning from it but figured out I had to listen in small doses to really stay engaged in the material.
On Air with Zoe Washington by Janae Marks - I read From the Desk of Zoe Washington with both Trent and Drew, and we all enjoyed it. So when a sequel came out, I knew I had to get it. Trent has gotten a little too old for Zoe, but Drew and I LOVED the sequel! Zoe is just the cutest heroine, and I also love how this series tackles some pretty heavy topics {racism, our justice system} in a way that Drew can understand and think on. I highly, highly recommend these!
The Perfumist of Paris by Alka Joshi [audiobook] - I was so happy to be back with this family for the conclusion of The Henna Artist trilogy. We first met Radha in The Henna Artist as the younger sister of Lakshmi. Now she's a grown woman with a family of her own living in Paris working for a master perfumer. I thought this was a great story - it kept me intrigued the whole time, I loved being back in Jaipur, and I loved how everything wrapped up. Top notch trilogy from start to finish!
Hello Stranger by Katherine Center - Gosh, I love Katherine Center! She writes chick lit that makes you feel good and happy, and this story was no exception. It's about a painter who sustains a head injury which causes her to not see faces, and she just happens to get herself into a semi-love triangle! This was cute but also had some additional umph to it, and I thought it was great! [It doesn't hurt that I met Katherine and got her to autograph the book for me.]
The Midwife of Auschwitz by Anna Stuart - We read this for in OG book club. Y'all know I love WW2 historical fiction, and it doesn't matter how many stories I've read, there are always new facts or atrocities of WW2 that I wasn't aware of. I thought this was a pretty standard book for this genre and enjoyed it. There is a sequel coming out soon, and I will read that! [Trigger warning: child abuse]
The Book of Boundaries by Melissa Urban - I just love Melissa Urban and loved reading about boundaries! I don't necessarily thing I struggle with them a lot, but {like all women I feel} tend to want to please others. Whether you have issues creating boundaries or not, I think this was extremely interesting!
The Body Liberation Project by Chrissy King - We read this for Blog Friend Book Club, and we all enjoyed it but also all felt like it was on the long/ramble-y side. I really enjoyed a lot of what Chrissy said, but I would have liked it better as a long article potentially.
At the end of August, I was up to 87 books read - 20 ahead of my goal of 100 for the year - kind of exciting that I could hit my goal in September! 124 is my highest # of reads ever...I wonder if I could break that this year?!!?
