August Wrap Up

August saw me go back to full time at work, which is why this blog has been a little quieter lately, as I only have time to dedicate to writing on days off, and my reading time has also diminished, though I do read most evenings and during work breaks. Despite that, I did hit 11 books this month, though quite a few were children’s books… So without further ado, here’s what I read and here’s what I thought of it!

ARCs

• The Boy With Fire by Aparna Verma – a really cool debut with an interesting blend of sci-fi and fantasy, high stakes, and a desert setting. You can read my review here. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• The Raven Heir by Stephanie Burgis – a fun middle-grade fantasy with triplet siblings and exciting magic. It also had a lot of emotional beats and a good twist, and my review talks a bit more about that. ⭐⭐⭐
• The Pariah by Anthony Ryan – a surprise favourite, and my first foray into Anthony Ryan’s writing. I loved the characters, the world, and the twists. I can highly recommend it and you can see why in my review. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman – I adored the first Thursday Murder Club mystery, so was very excited when I was able to get a physical ARC through work, and I can’t believe I left it so long to read it! I’ve had it on my shelf maybe two months or so, but once I finally picked it up I couldn’t put it down. It’s charming, funny, and heartfelt, and I’ll be reviewing that soon, so keep an eye out! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Children’s Books

Being a bookseller means keeping up with new releases, and since I’m technically our shop’s children’s bookseller, I try to read a few kid’s books every month. I don’t always succeed but this time I did!

• Billie Swift Takes Flight by Iszi Lawrence – this one started out as a little boring but I ended up really enjoying Billie and her adventures at an airbase during WWII. A lot of the characters were also based on real historical figures, which I found cool. ⭐⭐⭐
• Theodora Hendrix and the Curious Case of the Cursed Beetle by Jordan Kopy – really fun, the second in the Theodora Hendrix series, where a young girl is raised by a house-full of monsters and has to navigate curses, witches, and school. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Cloud Soup by Kate Wakeling – a really sweet poetry collection. Whenever I read a poem I tell myself I should read more, so I was happy to be able to read a few. ⭐⭐⭐
• We Made a Movie by Charlotte Lo – somewhat basic, and a little ridiculous for me, but I need to be able to recommend books to children with different interests, and this has got dancing goats, meddling journalists, and strange yoga retreat guests, so I’m sure a lot of kids will find it very funny. ⭐⭐

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Just For Fun

The Iron Crown by L.L. MacRae – this was one of my ongoing reads in July, and I finally managed to find time to finish it. I really enjoyed it, and I even managed to find time to write a review for it, which you can read over here. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Night Hawks by Elly Griffiths – this was sent to me by the publishers, and even though I hadn’t read any of the ruth Galloway mysteries before it kept me entertained, and I enjoyed the characters as well as the mystery. ⭐⭐⭐

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DNFs

I don’t enjoy DNFing but with so many books on my list, I really don’t feel like going through a book I’m not enjoying, and sadly these three weren’t for me. I’ve seen high praise for all three, and me not liking them doesn’t mean they’re not good. If you did read them, let me know what you thought!

That’s about it! I have a lot of ARCs for September, and am currently reading Among Thieves by M.J. Kuhn and absolutely loving it. After that I’ve got A Dark & Starless Forest by Sarah Hollowell, The Lighthouse Witches by C.J. Cooke, and The Symmetry of Stars by Alex Myers, which I’m particularly excited about. I’ve also started listening to audiobooks a bit, and am currently listening to Queen of Coin and Whispers by Helen Corcoran and am enjoying that!

How was your bookish August?