Books I Enjoyed Outside my Comfort Zone
So I typically only read fantasy but since starting my blog I have really started to expand my reading tastes and dip my toes in other genres. As this week’s Top Ten Tuesday is books I enjoyed outside of my comfort zone I went through and picked 5 books that sparked my love of these other genres.
The Death of Mrs Westaway by Ruth Ware – I had wanted to pick up mystery/thrillers for the longest time and I came across The Death of Mrs Westaway in a book store and I remembered it had some good reviews so I picked it up and LOVED it!
Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand – this was my first real foray into more dark/horror fantasy and I really enjoyed it! This book was super eerie and strange and it captured me right from the start.
The Hating Game by Sally Thorne – This book propelled me back into the world of adult romance/smut. I am a sucker for the hate to love trope and this book executed it perfectly.
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline – Sci-fi isn’t my thing at all and Ready Player One has really been the only book in the sci-fi genre I have been able to stomach so far. I recently read The Long Way to A Small Angry Planet not too long ago and didn’t really enjoy it all that much but I am still open to picking up more books from this genre and exploring what else it has to offer!
Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia – this was my real first kind of hard hitting young adult contemporary book with mental health representation included. Up until I picked Eliza and Her Monsters up I was just reading a lot of fluffy YA books with no real substance.
August Wrap Up
I had a pretty good reading month for August, it wasn’t as successful as previous months but I was actually super busy in August so I am pretty proud of how much I was able to get through!
Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker – ⭐️4.5/5 stars
Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston – ⭐️4/5 stars
Holy Sister by Mark Lawrence – ⭐️4.5/5 stars
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas – ⭐️5/5 stars
The Test by Sylvain Neuvel – ⭐️5/5 stars
Vicious by L.J. Shen – ⭐️4/5 stars
Defy by L.J. Shen – ⭐️3/5 stars
Ruckus by L.J. Shen – ⭐️4/5 stars
Scandalous by L.J. Shen – ⭐️4/5 stars
Wilder Girls by Rory Powers – ⭐️4/5 stars
Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody – ⭐️4.5/5 stars
King of Fools by Amanda Foody – ⭐️4/5 stars
The Bride Test by Helen Hoang – ⭐️5/5 stars
Percy Jackson & the Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan – ⭐️5/5 stars
Vow of Thieves by Mary E Pearson – ⭐️5/5 Stars
Finale by Stephanie Garber – ⭐️4/5 stars
Boss I Love to Hate: An Office Romance by Mia Kayla – ⭐️3/5 stars
✨N.E.W.T.S Magical Readathon Wrap Up✨
So there was a little change of plans… I had to swap out a few books from my original TBR, honestly because I wasn’t feeling like reading a few of the books I put on there. However, I did still manage to complete and pass all of my NEWT exams which I am actually super stoked about! I needed an O in Charms and E in Defense Against the Dark Arts and at least 2 A’s in secondary subjects of my choice which equals to 7 books in all that I completed for the NEWTS.
So the prompts and the books I read for my NEWTs are:
A: Read a book that has a gorgeous cover
Vow of Thieves by Mary E. Pearson – LOVED it!
E: Read a comic / manga / graphic novel (or book under 150 pages)
Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker – was super cute and wholesome!
O: Spongify (softening charm) – read a paperback book
The Bride Test by Helen Hoang – had reservations but I adored it!
A: Book that’s black under the dust jacket
Finale by Stephanie Garber – was a solid ending to this series!
E: Gilderoy’s Memory Charm – first book that I remembered just now from my TBR!
Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody – I’m going to count this one, just because it’s been on my TBR for AGES now and I finally got around to reading it!
A: Read a Fantasy
Holy Sister by Mark Lawrence – This was EVERYTHING!!!
A: Read a book with LGBTQA+ Representation
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston – I liked it, didn’t love it as much as everyone else seems to..
September TBR
In September I am going to try and focus on the books that have been sitting on my shelves unread for a while now. That way I can focus on new and upcoming releases for the rest of the year. I have a few series and just random books on my shelves that I would really like to get to and I am going to try and focus on September to get them all done. I know I am not going to finish them all but if I can get a good chunk of them completed I won’t feel guilty about buying more new books in the upcoming months!
These are all the books I currently have on my physical TBR:
Amy Leigh Reads 