Well, well, well, guess who’s really late to last months wrap up post.
Me.
I feel like a broken record if I keep saying that things have been stressful, but dear god, have things been stressful. I am so exhausted from life that it should come as no surprise that I didn’t have a single creative idea for a blog post last month and I only read about half the amount of books I normally read.
But nevertheless I want to talk to you guys about my August reads, because even though they are not many and they weren’t new favourites, I still want to talk about them.
As always, if you do want to catch up on my reading in real time then follow me on Instagram (we’re super close to 2k) or become my friend on Goodreads because that’s where I have all the details about my reading and books I DNF (yes, there was actually another book I had to DNF, but more on that later).
Founded on Goodbye by Kat Singleton (4/5)
If you are into smutty, binge-worthy rockstar romances, then this is the perfect book for you. You know I can’t give a book I binged until 1am a bad rating, even if it might not be the most logical or best book. I loved the characters, I could overlook all the drama because it is literally build on the premise that there will be lots of drama (it even says on the back that the heartbreak of the musician is the goal) so because I was prepared for it, I enjoyed it. I loved Kat’s style of writing and I’ll be sure to check out more of her books.
Fence Vol. 4 by C.S. Pacat (5/5)
I absolutely love Fence and when I saw the new volume on Scribd I just had to read it. I love the art style, I love the story line and I absolutely love the queerness and diversity. This is an amazing graphic novel series and I highly recommend you check it out.
The Shape of Snakes by Minette Walters (2/5)
This was odd and disappointing. I hated every character, I hated the animal cruelty and I hated that I couldn’t make out whether the main character had a white saviour complex or was just trying to help. I’ve read a few Minette Walters books now and I’m still not sure if I like her style of writing. I have one more on my tbr that I will give a try and see if I even like her as an author.
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (3.5/5)
I think this was probably the most hyped book I read this month and therefore I was the most nervous for this one. The premise of it is fantastic and really makes you think about life and your life choices. It does deal with suicide and some really heavy life regret stuff so be sure to put yourself in the right mindset for this one, because I was struggling a bit mentally and this was not an easy book to digest at first. Now while the premise of this was amazing, the execution fell flat for me. I didn’t care for the main character which I feel like is important in a book like this and the way the story developed was a bit wooden. So overall a fine contemporary read, but not a book I’ll gush about.
Das Limettenhaus von Valentina Cebeni (3/5)
I read this book for review and was surprised that I kind of liked it. Historical Fiction is not my genre at all, but the characters and the story line were entertaining. The style of writing was a bit odd and I’m not sure if that had anything to do with the translation, and on top of that the weird time jumps were quite confusing. This was not a book that convinced me to read more Historical Fiction, but also not a book I hated.
Dragon Actually by G. A. Aiken (4/5)
I think this was the biggest surprise to me this month. I had never read a book with dragons before, so I thought I should give something new a try. It is on the erotic side, but what really surprised me was the attention to the world building and how easy it was for me to understand the royalty system in this world. It was also incredibly funny, so if you’re looking for a very steamy fantasy book with witty banter, then check this out and don’t get turned away by the weird Goodreads cover, I promise it is better than it looks.
Play & Pretend von Nena Tramountani (4.5/5)
I did a full review on this one, you can read it here.
The Guest List by Lucey Foley (4.5/5)
This was one of those books that I should love but for some reason I didn’t. No, that’s wrong. I loved it, but I refuse to give it 5 stars because something felt a little off at the end. The setting was fantastic, the shifts in POVs and the sketchy characters was super entertaining. I loved the tension in this book and the constant question of what was going to happen next, but in the end I was just a little underwhelmed. There were also a few minor plot holes that have nothing to do with the outcome of the book but were still a little annoying in hindsight. I don’t know why I didn’t love this while I loved everything about it, but it is what it is. Great mystery that I’d recommend to a lot of people (just be sure you can handle things like abortion, eating disorders, drugs, violence and mental illness).
DNF
I actually had to DNF the sequel to The Devil wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger, which is Revenge wears Prada I think, because it was just awful to read. Andy was not at all behaving like an adult woman, there was sooo much unnecessary drama in the first 50 pages already and there were a few body shaming comments etc. that really pissed me off. I normally never dnf books because I want to give them a chance to prove me wrong, but according to a lot of people on Goodreads it didn’t get any better, so I decided to stop before I’d invested too much time.
Those were all the books I read in August. Not that many, but I’m still glad I read a few. I’m not sure if September is going to be that much better, but I will definitely let you know in my next monthly wrap up.
I hope you had a great August (not just reading wise, life wise) and if you didn’t I hope it’ll get better for you soon.
For now I’m done.
As always, take care, stay healthy and read on.
Lena
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