This month I want to go back to mood reading whatever I feel like at the time but also trying to get through one or two books from my physical TBR. I had a lot of fun last month picking books from a set list of prompts but this month I wanted to take it a little easy and just read whatever is calling my name at the time!
For some reason I have had the best reading month of my life! I know at this time a lot of people haven’t been able to focus on reading with everything happening in the world but it has really become an escape for me. This month I have never felt the need to take a break from reading or had to force myself to pick up a book, it’s been quite lovely actually. I ended up participating in two readathons this month the Smutathon hosted by Riley Marie on YouTube and I completed the OWL’s Magical Readathon which I will post a separate wrap up for tomorrow!
You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendriks & Sarah Pekkanen – ⭐️4/5 stars
My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite – ⭐️3/5 stars
The Crown’s Fate by Evelyn Skye – ⭐️4/5 stars
Vengeful by V.E. Schwab – ⭐️3/5 stars
Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert – ⭐️4/5 stars
The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson – ⭐️4/5 stars
The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan – ⭐️4/5 stars
House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J Maas – ⭐️5/5 stars
Heartstopper Volume 1 by Alice Oseman – ⭐️4/5 stars
Pines by Blake Crouch – ⭐️3/5 stars
Wayward by Blake Crouch – ⭐️3/5 stars
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling – ⭐️5/5 stars
The Last Town by Blake Crouch – ⭐️4/5 stars
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo – ⭐️3/5 stars
An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson – ⭐️3/5 stars
Enemies by Tijan – ⭐️3/5 stars
Angry God by L.J. Shen – ⭐️3/5 stars
Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire – ⭐️3/5 stars
Hate the Game by Winter Renshaw – ⭐️3/5 stars
Bennett Mafia by Tijan – ⭐️3/5 stars
I Bet You by Ilsa Madden-Mills – ⭐️3/5 stars
I Dare you by Ilsa Madden-Mills – ⭐️3/5 stars
The Dare by Harley LaRoux – ⭐️3/5 stars
The Lies We Tell by Becca Steele – ⭐️3/5 stars
Theirs for the Night by Katee Robert – ⭐️3/5 stars
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling – ⭐️5/5 stars
Since I pretty much marathoned these three books in a couple of days I figured I would do a review of the series as a whole instead of individual reviews for the each book.
Pines I thought was a nice introduction to the characters, the plot and the premise. Even though you really aren’t given a lot of information about what was happening at Wayward Pines and whether or not Ethan was insane, there was just enough twists and turns to keep me engaged! It established the setting very well and there was an overall foreboding sense of confusion that contrasts well with the pristine facade of the town. I thought the plot was very fast paced and the overall premise very original and intriguing! ⭐️3/5 stars
Wayward I think did a good job going more in depth with the backgrounds of the different characters and explored the status quo of the town. We learnt a lot more about how these people ended up in Wayward Pines and how the whole operation came to be. I like that the focus isn’t completely on Ethan and we are given a few different point of views. The murder investigation was a nice plot point utilised as a way for us to learn alongside Ethan who was trying to fight against David’s regime and who was a loyal supporter. I was still highly invested in the book and really eager to pick up the third and see after the abbies are let into the valley how their story was going to conclude! ⭐️3/5 stars
The Last Town I thought was a great ending to this series! This was definitely faster paced and had much higher stakes than the previous two books. I was on the edge of my seat throughout the course of the plot and just knowing that everyone wasn’t going to survive made the story more realistic in a way. There was this underlying tone of helplessness, especially after we find out about the food situation and I honestly had no idea how they were all going to survive. The ending though is really what swayed me and ultimately won me over! I thought it was a fantastic conclusion that left me with just the right amount of satisfaction! ⭐️4/5 stars
Didn’t quite live up to the hype….
This book revolves around a school that takes in wayward children who have travelled to different worlds and have stumbled back to reality and can’t cope.
This book just didn’t quite gel with me personally. I went into it only really knowing that everyone absolutely loves this book and you don’t really get a lot of negative reviews but it didn’t quite live up to my expectations. Even though the book is quite short I thought it would go into a lot more details about the different worlds and the adventures that each of the children had whilst they were there and how it contrasts to the current world.
There wasn’t really any point in time where I was invested or all that engaged in the story. I think the development stage was a tad rushed and I wasn’t really settled into the plot at any point. I was definitely intrigued and once the murders started occurring I was eager to figure out who was behind them, but the pacing and the structure of the story felt a little fractured I guess.
I wasn’t all that attached to any of the characters either. They were all very diverse and distinct and had a voice and a story of their own but it was never to the point where I was developing any emotions or commitment to them. They all felt a little one dimensional to me as well, and again I think it was just due to the length of the book and that underdevelopment factor.
The premise is definitely original and now that I read this book and I understand kind of how it has been written and the purpose of the story I think I will enjoy the rest of the series. As a high/epic fantasy reader it just wasn’t fleshed out enough for me. I am used to a lot more world building and magical elements which this did have just not to the extent that I was expecting.
⭐️3/5 stars promising, needs a bit more oomph!
Galaxy (Alex) Stern has had a rough start at life, but she has been given a second chance and has an opportunity to attend Yale and is enveloped into the mysterious world of the nine secret societies that have been thriving there for hundreds of years.
It was a little too info dumpy at the start of the book. For those first hundred or so pages it was really a struggle to get through. It was slower paced and there are just so many dates, code names, characters, rules and regulations as well as all the magical elements woven in as well. It was a lot more rooted into the historical elements of the houses and it kind of bored me.
Alex I didn’t quite connect with for the first half of the book. She was just too mysterious I guess, we didn’t know a lot about her and she had too many secrets. She is a definitely a flawed character and being out of her element and thrust into the Lethe house and trying to live up to the expectations that are heaped upon her forced her out of her comfort zone. As she is learning about everything so are we, there is just a lot of information to wade through in a short amount of time. I did enjoy her development over the course of the story line though. She gains a lot more confidence in herself and really has had to come to terms with her past and everything that happened with Hellie in order to move on with her future.
I liked Darlington and I wish he was around for more of the plot. He was a nice contrast to Alex and even though he exudes that rich, know it all persona he has had to work hard to get to where he is now. Dawes started out as a quite innocuous character, I didn’t really think she would have much of an impact on the plot but she was like the dark horse of the story. She saved Alex’s life multiple times and stood up for her on multiple occasions as well when it came to the Dean.
Like I said the start of the book was a little bit slow and was quite hard to get through. However, once I was settled into the story and the investigation about Tara’s death began the pacing definitely picked up and the action intensified. There were some great twists and turns thrown in and I appreciated how much Leigh Bardugo went in depth with the different houses, I just wish maybe she only would of focused on a couple at a time and expanded upon them as the series continues.
⭐️3/5 stars a very slow build!
Amy Leigh Reads 