September 2018 Wrap-Up & October TBR Update

Yes, we’re now in the latter half of October. Yes, these are getting later and later. I’m starting to suspect that a part of me likes posting these late. The contrary part, that is. The responsible part has packed its bags, donned a Hawaiian shirt, and put up a sign saying “Gone on (Indefinite) Vacation.”

It’s been a down week and I don’t really have the energy to ramble on, so I’m going to keep both the Wrap-Up and the TBR shorter than usual.

 

⚔️= Fantasy; 🚀= Scifi; 👻= Paranormal; 🔍= Mystery; 🌺= Contemporary; 🗝️= Historical; 🌈= LGBTQIAP+

The Excellent

➽ Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee 🗝️⚔️🌈:
Loved pretty much everything about it. Felicity is a wonderful, wonderful character. Review here.

➽ The Wolf at Bay (Big Bad Wolf 2) by Charlie Adhara 👻🔍🌈:
Maybe it’s because I’ve been watching a lot of This is Us lately, but I just couldn’t get enough of the family dynamics in this book. I’ll probably do a full review of the first two books sometime soon.

 

The Great

➽ Bloody Rose (The Band 2) by Nicholas Eames ⚔️🌈: Review

➽ Strange Grace by Tessa Gratton ⚔️🌈: Review

➽ Los Nefilim by T. Frohock 🗝️⚔️🌈: Review

 

The Good

➽ Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett ⚔️: Review

➽ Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach by Kelly Robson 🚀🌈: Review

 

The Meh

➽ The Deepest Roots by Miranda Asebedo 🌺👻⚔️🌈:
I went into it expecting fantasy and female friendships and got the latter but not so much of the former. Review here.

➽ Nightingale by Amy Lukavics:

To quote my own Goodreads review, “it’s like an acid-induced fever dream directed by David Lynch.” And I realize that will appeal to a lot of people. Just…not me.

 

Now for October! I really liked the “Just finished/Currently Reading/To Be Read” format I stumbled upon with the September TBR post, so I’ll do that again here.

 

Recently Finished

➽ A Conspiracy of Truths by Alexandra Rowland:
Loved this one. It’s got stories and politics and a grumpy protagonist who tries hard to pretend he doesn’t care when he actually does. Review here

➽ Sadie by Courtney Summers:
Amanda at MetalPhantasmReads wrote a glowing review for the audiobook version of Sadie and I couldn’t not give it a try. And she was absolutely right. It’s by far the best audiobook I’ve listened to in recent memory. The voice actors do a phenomenal job and I had to keep reminding myself that this a book and not a fiction podcast. Review to come.

➽ Time’s Children by D.B. Jackson:
A mashup of high fantasy and scifi (time travel) that was pleasant to read but lacked depth in terms of plot and characterization.

 

READING NOW

➽ The Light Between Worlds by Laura E. Weymouth:
The author jokingly called it Narnia fanfiction, which is actually kind of spot-on. It less of a retelling and more of a continuation, though. I’m enjoying it so far!

➽ Alice Isn’t Dead by Joseph Fink:
From the brain behind Welcome to Nightvale, this is a novelization of the Alice Isn’t Dead podcast (which I utterly adore). Thus far the book is a somewhat different from the podcast. Same story. Still bizarre. Still creepy. But just… different in style. Curious to see how the rest pans out.

➽ Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds by Brandon Sanderson:
It’s weird reading a Sanderson book that’s not an epic fantasy but Legion is proving to me that the man can write in any genre. I absolute adore the mesh of mental health and sci-fi elements.

 

YET TO READ

➽ Mage Against the Machine by Shaun Barger:
It’s been described as a mix of Harry Potter and Terminator which sounds like a lot of fun. Also, that cover!

➽ The Nine by Tracy Townsend:
I’d planned on reading this last month but that didn’t really pan out, so here’s take 2!

➽ Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak:
*Laughs* Right. This book. Zusak is one of my top two creative inspirations and this book is my most anticipated read of the year. Which is why I spent half of this past week psyching myself up for it and the other half furiously telling myself I need to lower my expectations. Now I’m in a state of “Should I read this now or save it until I’m finished with all my October ARCs?” I’m leaning toward the latter. I mean, I’ve waited 10 years for it, what’s another few weeks?

 

That’s all from me! How is your October going?