Okay, I must admit: August wasn't as bad as I expected it would be. I mean, for one thing, it was a flawless excuse to blast Taylor Swift's 'august' 24/7. Going back to school was actually a lot more fun than anticipated. And it rained quite a bit, so the excruciating August heat wasn't tooooo excruciating. It was also a good reading month, albeit a strange one. I had a weird amount of 4 Star reads (7 out of 12 books I read were 4 Stars), and two books actually made me cry (and they were the ones I least expected to make me cry?? I thought they were going to be fluffy contemporaries). Well, with that having been said, let's take a closer look at what I read this month. Books read: 13 Pages read: 5,139 Genres read: Fantasy, Contemporary, Romance, Sci-Fi, Dystopian, Mystery, Historical Fiction, Verse, Retelling, LGBTQ+, Graphic Novel Favorite book read: Rule of Wolves, by Leigh Bardugo The (Un)Popular Vote by Jasper Sanchez, by Jasper Sanchez ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ Authentic and heartfelt! I always enjoy books with political elements and this one didn't disappoint. The friendships and romance were wonderful, too! The Corpse Queen, by Heather Herrman ⭐️⭐️⭐️ I'd pitch this as "Stalking Jack the Ripper but minus Thomas Cresswell." This book was good but I feel like the characters were missing something--idk what exactly. I did like the feminist elements, but overall it just needed a little extra pizazz. Full review coming soon! She Drives Me Crazy, by Kelly Quindlen ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ So good! The messages about toxic relationships and loving yourself were beautiful. Almost made me cry several times. The romance was amazing, too! Definitely recommend to anyone looking for an excellent sapphic enemies-to-lovers. Clap When You Land, by Elizabeth Acevedo ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The verse in this book was beautiful! All of Elizabeth Acevedo's books are stunning. I really enjoyed this buddy read with Paige @pagebypaigebooks! Rule of Wolves, by Leigh Bardugo ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I still haven't recovered from Rule of Wolves. It was so good...but so heartbreaking...and so emotional... Zoya is definitely a new favorite character of mine! And of course Nikolai was amazing as always. I honestly can't recommend the King of Scars duopoly enough! It's exceptional! Go read it! The Other Merlin, by Robin Schneider ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was much more lighthearted and fun than I anticipated! Definitely a new favorite King Arthur retelling. The characters were brilliant! Full review soon to come. The Darkness Outside Us, by Eliot Schrefer ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Okay, I'm not usually a sci-fi person (actually, I actively dislike most sci-fi), but Paige convinced me to give this book a try and I actually really loved it! The characters were great and the plot was unique and so full of twists! I highly recommend this one whether you like sci-fi or not. Counting Down With You, by Tashie Bhuiyan ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ AKA Book #1 on the Books That Made Rose Cry This Month list. That ending, though...so packed full of emotions. I was genuinely sobbing. I also thought the anxiety rep was really accurate. Overall, cute romance but also presented some important issues. Ace of Spades, by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Around time I finally read this. It deserves the hype! The eerie mystery vibes were spot-on, and it didn't hesitate to tackle issues like racism and homophobia. Highly recommend! Cool For the Summer, by Dahlia Adler ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I intended to binge-read this the night before school, but I only ended up getting halfway through (for the record, I would have stayed up late to finish it if my class hadn't started at 7:40am the next day...ugh). However, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book! Also, this is #2 on the Books That Made Rose Cry This Month list; something about that ending hit me hard and left me teary-eyed. Divergent, by Veronica Roth ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I read this for a fun little mother-daughter buddy read with my mom! I actually ended up liking it way more than I expected. I also watched the movie last night and was pretty impressed with how well it followed the book. Mooncakes, by Wendy Xu and Suzanne Walker ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Very cute graphic novel with lots of great representation! The artwork was beautiful and the characters were great. I loved all the magic, especially the magical creatures! Perfect on Paper, by Sophie Gonzales ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Super fun group buddy read with April @bookedtillmidnight and Asher @asher_reads! Honestly this book was even better my second time reading it. The humor was golden and the characters are the absolute best. I can't recommend it enough!! So that was my reading for August! Weird but enjoyable. I guess August was just the month of 4 Star reads. Also, I wanted to share some personal life highlights from August:
And....yeah. I think that's all of August summed up in one blog post. Onto September! I'm so ready for it to be autumn.
How many books did you read in August? Which was your favorite? Let me know in the comments!
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Hey there, bookworms!My name is Rose (she/her) and I'm the creator of Books of Magic and Mystery. I love reading YA books, especially fantasy and mystery. When I'm not reading, you can find me baking, studying, or cuddling with my super-furry pets. Visit me on Instagram @booksofmagicandmystery! Archives
October 2021
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