I didn’t plan too many for September: a modest five. And I guess I should stick to that habit because I read 4 of those 5! Plus another… whole bunch!
The Plan:
Hello (From Here) was one I was waiting on as an advanced copy, but it ended up taking a while so I got it just after the publish date. I still read it right away, so there was no surprise with that one! Bad Luck Bridesmaid was a surprise ARC that I had to grab because it sounded so perfectly wonderful, and happily, it was even better than I had hoped. 😍 Keep an eye out for that review & publish date early next year!
The Result:
The Never Tilting World is going to get read… eventually. But for now it’s pushed out to the October tbr (and to be honest… probably will continue to be pushed out haha).
(I’ll give a clear warning before any spoilers begin!!)
Hey y’all! I finished the recent release Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney this week, a mystery with lots of secrets and various people scheming against each other. The ending was completely unsurprising because from early on I had a thought of what the “twist” would be, which proved correct. There were some clues along the way that backed me up, and I wanted to walk through a few of them as well as partially review the book itself altogether.
On a related note, I recently watched the 2004 movie The Village for the first time at my boyfriend’s excited suggestion. He fully expected it would blow my mind to discover towards the end (okay, spoiler for this 17 year old movie…) that it was not 1800s as the setting implied, but modern day with cars, medicine, wifi, and all that. So when he looked over at the reveal moment and I was just regularly watching, unfazed, he was pretty disappointed. 😅 Sorry love! But I think some of the reasons I saw that twist coming from VERY early on are the same reasons I nailed Rock Paper Scissors.
I’m not much of a detective, but I am an English major and voracious lifelong reader, so let’s put those skills to work!
Hey y’all! I’m looking into October with may more books on my list than I will actually read, but that’s fine. xD Because of it, I have plenty of choices! It’s definitely a month where I try to read some thriller-type things outside my usual genres, and I have a few ideas for this month to continue that!
Plus when I say it’s planned to be a scary good month I mean that… pretty literally. 😁 In a sense that can be very cheesy and varied!
Scary
I know I took a few liberties with calling some of these “scary.” Or… calling probably any of them scary. But! They all have at least a slightly spooky thing about the name, cover, or plot!
Golden Boys Beware is a tricky one, because it’s actually one of my favorite books, Foul is Fair, but as a re-release with a new name and cover. Probably because the original cover is hideous, but either way I read this book at least once a year and usually in October because of the magnificent Macbeth-y mood of malignant witchy maidens.
If you missed my recent Fast Forward Friday about it, Beast Boy Loves Raven came out yesterday! Oddly though, I actually hadn’t yet read Beast Boy, the second in the series. I’ve had a line on it from the library since it came out last year. I’ve looked at it multiple times and thought, I’m so excited to read this. I read a sample of it in Raven and couldn’t wait, yet once I had the chance, I WAITED!
I’m so glad I did though. 🥰 I finished Beast Boy this morning and was 100% in love with Gar. I hated that I had turned the last page because I desperately wanted to continue on the journey with him!
So THANK GOODNESS that Beast Boy Loves Raven had just become available! I dove immediately into it and plowed through in one sitting. One l o n g sitting, because I kept going back pages to check out the details, or examining all the background elements and characters. If you loved the others, you will preeeetty much definitely love this one. I really hope we see more of Tank and Stella from Beast Boy because I kind of fell in love with them too. Yet the monkey sticks around??
I had heard of this new release that sounded super cute and just like what I was looking for: The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun. I’ll put the book details at the end, but it’s a lot of fake dating and reality TV and mental health and sexual identity and cute AF moments with truly loveable, whole characters.
So obviously I was incredibly pumped to read this, until I went to place a hold on it from the library and saw something like 82 people ahead of me and an estimated wait time that was “incalculable” because it was so long. 😅 That was dismaying, but then I remembered something:
Hey y’all! Anyone remember the Picture’s Worth series last seen, oh, about a year ago? To be honest…. I totally didn’t. 🤣 But saw one pop up in my past posts and thought “OH YEAH those were fun why did I stop doing those!” And couldn’t think of any good reason, so here we go. 😊
Words have always carried more weight with me than images – give me a book over its movie any day – but I do love to see the beautiful images other people create when they’re in love with a book. That’s not my strength, but I can certainly appreciate it in others! So here’s a few of my faves based on what I’ve been reading recently.
Descendant of the Crane by Joan He
So, Descendant of the Crane is an older title by a few years that is totally new to me. What a fool I am for missing it! I’m about halfway through and quite intrigued by the world. It’s been a slower build, but I think the payoff will definitely be worth it. I have no idea if this is a series, but I hope so, because I think there’s a lot of exploring that could be done with it. So let’s check out how beautiful the cover is to match the book so far!! Descendant of the Crane here we come —
WHOOPS, that’s Descendants of the Sun, which my brain typed into Instagram on autopilot. 😂 Guess it might be time for a re-watch?
Back to our regularly scheduled programming…
@bookishwondergoth made use of the related decorative fan that came in an Illumicrate box, of which I am extremely envious. They did it better than I ever could have, though. xD
@agalaxyofpages has playing cards of the characters!!! Or just, decorative cards of the characters? And I think this was done with a digital cover, which makes this even more impressive to me.
@theseviciousdelights probably just casually has this lovely robe, but daaaaang did it perfectly complement the cover and aesthetic of the book!!
Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney
Rock Paper Scissors is not a book I would have picked up if it weren’t for BOTM (judging by the editions in the photos, this is true for many people). The jury is still out on whether that instinct to avoid was correct or if BOTM will prove me wrong. Sadly… BOTM rarely delivers for me. Nonetheless, I’m a little ways into this and the setting is incredibly well established. Days are getting cooler here, and I deliberately read this one any time it’s under 65 F / 18 C just to help embrace that.
@myschedulesbooked created a definite mood with the colors and contrast here. I adore the very literal representation of the title ^.^ Even the rock is like, a very pretty rock. The rocks around my yard look more… rockish.
@read_with_lynne got the scissors just right! I love the way they obscure their eyes because I feel like that is representative of the way everyone in this book is hiding something. Or many somethings. Or maybe even their whole existence. And it took me three tries to spell “scissors” correctly even though I’ve written and read it 50 times in the making of this post. 😊
@completely_bookt took this thriller set during a blizzard in a remote church in Scotland… for a beach read. 😂 That’s one way to combat it! I wonder if the sunshine helped keep the chill from creeping over them while they read through this eerie book? They even mention wishing they’d read it when it was cold to set the mood so I guess I’m doing it wrong as well. Whoops!!
Judging by the covers, would y’all read either of these books? Or if you already did, do the insides match the outsides for you?
Ps I remembered why I stopped doing these. Embedding an Instagram post into WordPress is a nightmare. Bookstagrammers like to write very lengthy captions, which is great except for when you can’t hide the caption. 😅 I tried so many other workaround and custom code options, but it seems like they still crap out and default to showing a message saying “view this on Instagram” which… sort of ruins the point. Ah well. I think I found a workaround, and I really hope that they stay visible! I’ll check in on this and see what happens, which will probably determine if these truly continue or not.
I’m starting off this month really excited about a couple of books! No real reason, to be honest… they just sound good and I’m enjoying having time to read them as my house work dwindles. 😊Last month I had a few ARCs on the list, and this month is following suit. To balance it out, there are also a few backlist books that are new to me. My other main goal is reading a few books to finish up my alphabet reading challenge for the year. Up this month: J and N!
More ARCs!
Bad Luck Bridesmaid is about a woman who’s curse always ends up in a failed wedding if she’s in the wedding party. When it’s her best friend heading to the altar, she’s determined to find a way to break her “curse.” Also, SCOTLAND! ^.^
Hello (From Here) is a COVID-19 YA love story. For some people, reading stories set during covid is basically never going to be ok. For me, it’s actually quite welcome. Example: 56 Days!
And Lupina is a comic that looks fascinating. Young girl is orphaned by violence — taken in by a wolf — and seeks revenge. That was enough for me!
My alphabet challenge books!
I love doing the a-z title challenge, and I’m wrapping up two more letters for this year with The Jade Bones and The Never Tilting World.The Jade Bones is the sequel to The Seventh Sun, so I’m excited for that. The Never Tilting World is an older book that I think has floated through my brain before and somehow gotten lost. I don’t know how I forgot about it though, because it sounds awesome!
That’s it for September! Have y’all read any of these books? Which one should I be most excited to start?
I’ve been (finally) reading Skyhunter by Marie Lu. When it was first out, I kept wavering on it, thinking I might love it or hate it. Indecisiveness was rough on this one. I left it to fate’s hands and entered a Goodreads giveaway for it. Amazingly, I actually won it from a Goodreads Giveaway about a year ago (although I didn’t realize it at first)! So I was set to give it a shot!
Ah, but… COVID 19 was in full swing, but not far enough in that people had kind of worked out how to do things despite it. This resulted in a month passing after winning without receiving a book, and then another, and then the release date passing me by, and then ANOTHER month without it…. I did finally get it a while after once I had reached out. By that point, though I was already deep into some other books and my excitement had dimmed for this one.
I did try to start reading it, but the first few chapters didn’t really pull me in right away. And so it has been almost a full year since I won it, and yet I’m only just now reading it!
AND IT HAS BEEN PRETTY GOOD!!! Look, I know I’m a little late to this train, but I’m still excited about it! I went through a lot with this book, and now I’m actually enjoying it. It’s enough to bring a beautiful tear to my eye. 🥰
Hey y’all! I’m planning out my reads for July, and most of them are already started or at least in hand and ready to be started shortly. I’m so excited for these ones!
I’m always up for traveling somewhere in a book. Plus royalty and court life is my weakness that I just can’t resist 🥰 My library hold just came in, so I’ll be starting this one shortly for sure!
I love a good retelling with a twist, and this one had all the elements that promised to be just that! It didn’t hurt that my friend Abby recently finished this and highly recommended it!
Recommended: yep For a delve into Arthurian legend from the side of Elaine the seer, for a form-shifting read that excels at mirroring the readers’ experience with the characters’, for a dark yet hopeful spin
Summary
Everyone knows the legend. Of Arthur, destined to be a king. Of the beautiful Guinevere, who will betray him with his most loyal knight, Lancelot. Of the bitter sorceress, Morgana, who will turn against them all. But Elaine alone carries the burden of knowing what is to come–for Elaine of Shalott is cursed to see the future.
On the mystical isle of Avalon, Elaine runs free and learns of the ancient prophecies surrounding her and her friends–countless possibilities, almost all of them tragic.
When their future comes to claim them, Elaine, Guinevere, Lancelot, and Morgana accompany Arthur to take his throne in stifling Camelot, where magic is outlawed, the rules of society chain them, and enemies are everywhere. Yet the most dangerous threats may come from within their own circle.
As visions are fulfilled and an inevitable fate closes in, Elaine must decide how far she will go to change fate–and what she is willing to sacrifice along the way.
Thoughts
The first thing I’ll say is that I have NO IDEA who Elaine is outside of this story. I have no other context to compare her to, so I really can’t speak to that aspect of the experience. If you’re familiar with the lore already from other media, I have no idea how this might align with the way it’s been told elsewhere. That said, I think the way it was told here was quite compelling.
My absolute favorite aspect of this book (besides the plot itself) is the way my experience reading it mirrored Elaine’s experience as a seer so well. Past, present, and future all blend together with timeline and perspective shifting often, and not always with clear delineations. If this might drive you crazy, then be forewarned, but I promise it enhanced the book, not detracted. Elaine’s glimpses of the future bleed in to every action of the present and affect her memories of the past. How can you act on love when you literally KNOW it will lead to heartbreak of the most dire kind?
